
m 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS; 



OR, 



jTHB LIBRARY 
OF C ONGR ESS 

1 WASHINGTON 



Childhood Against the World, 



How a Church was Built and. Paid for, through a Bequest 



of $4.41. 




2 



PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
No. 15 12 Chestnut Street. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Office of the Librarian of 
Congress, at Washington, D. C, A. D. 1883, by The Presbyterian Printing 
and Publishing Company, Philadelphia. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The last pulse of the drowning victim is felt 
to the utmost limit of every shore. Not less 
mighty in result is the last heart-throb in the 
sea of air that surrounds us ; or the greater sea 
of life moved by it. And as true is it of un- 
selfish acts, often in man's calculations con- 
temptible, which produce results ever multi- 
plying throughout the moral universe. The 
same line of thought can be traced through 
the Saviour's discourses — burdened by con- 
ceptions of the expansive power of good deeds. 
He entered the domain of chemistry and gave 
the first discourse on diastase, the enlarging 
and permeating power of the Gospel, in the 
parable of the leaven hid in the measure 01 
meal, and in that of the expansion of the mus- 
tard seed, from which we gather the other fact 
of the compressibility of Divine power, which 
can bulk within the shell of a mustard seed 
the faith force to remove mountains. Nor is ic 
surprising that He made so much of the com- 

iii. 



IV. 



INTRODUCTION. 



pressibility and expansion of Divine energy ; 
for man's weakness will always by contrast 
appear greatest right here. Man's comprehen- 
sion cannot get beyond the measure of force by 
bulk. How much has been lost to the Church 
and the progress of religion in the world by 
this mischievous misconception can never be 
estimated ; that the loss is beyond compute 
grows more apparent, as we perceive God's 
ability, on the one hand, to hide worlds in mole- 
cules, and on the other, to expand molecules to 
worlds. And what the Word of God, Provi- 
dence, and Nature reveal of the law of this 
peculiar progress, history, tradition, and even 
fiction embellish. A gem broken at some angle 
from all these, as far as we have ability to give 
it setting, shall sparkle in practical application 
through the following pages, illustrating God's 
omnipotence and beneficence in hiding His 
marvels of power in a life young and evan- 
escent, through death and by death expanded 
into results novel and surprising. 

The following resolutions were offered and 
unanimously adopted by Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia Central, at its monthly meeting March 
7th, 1 88 1 :— 



INTRODUCTION, 



V. 



11 Whereas, Presbytery desires to show its ap- 
preciation of all efforts in church extension, and 
particularly in the building of churches and 
chapels without incurring debt, therefore, 

1. Resolved, That we record our gratitude to 
God for the success in this respect of the church 
enterprise at Montgomery Avenue and Eigh- 
teenth Street, where we have a new and vigor- 
ous young church, with a property worth fifty 
thousand dollars,* unencumbered with debt. 

2. Resolved, That for the encouragement and 
direction of other like efforts, we request the 
Pastor, Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, D.D., by whose 
direction the work has been accomplished, to 
prepare a history of the enterprise and the man- 
ner of its progress, at such time as may be 
convenient to him. 

3. Resolved, That in what remains to be done 
in the entire completion and furnishing of the 
building, we heartily commend it to the con- 
tinued and generous co-operation of those who 
desire the extension of the Redeemer's King- 
dom/' 

WM. GREENOUGH, S. C. 



* It is now valued at 3 7 5, 000 



Mites Against Millions. 



CHAPTER I. 

Late in the year 1870 a family from New England 
— father, mother, and a daughter about seven years old — 
came sometimes to worship in the Cohocksink Church in 
Philadelphia. Being strangers, they were only known 
by their occasional attendance upon the services, usually 
at night. Their whole demeanor was that of cultivated, 
though poor people. They lived in a small house on 
a quiet street; and traces of former luxury were ap- 
parent in articles of furniture which had once graced 
a home of comfort. They had no friends in the church 
except the Pastor, and this was but a vestibule acquaint- 
ance until a short time before the beoinnino; of the Week 
of Prayer, during which the mother and little daughter 
attended the services, sitting far back in the lecture- 
room, disappearing immediately after the close of the 
meetings. 

During the progress of these meetings the mother 
asked the Pastor to call at their home to talk with her 
about the daughter who was troubling her upon the 
subject of uniting with the church. , 

1 



2 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



66 Why are you so concerned at tie persistence of this 
little daughter in her conviction that she ought to pro- 
fess Christ?" She replied, tenderly, " Only because 1 
think her too young." To the inquiry, " How old is 
she ?" she answered, " Seven years old ; she is thought- 
ful and a well-disposed child, and I sometimes fear we 
shall not have her long. She is our all, and we 
want her to be good, but feel that she is too young to 
take a step so important ; besides, I have seen so much 
mischief arising from uniting with the church thought- 
lessly, and so* much evil in revivals, that I do not want 
her to do it." " Madam, are you a member of church?" 
The question agitated her. Her emotion showed plainly 
that her memory of the past was punctured at a vital 
point, for she was herself an irregular member, having 
been compelled to be absent from her duties by the per- 
jxlexities of their poverty, which had, no doubt,, driven 
her from duty as a privilege. Sunshine to most natures 
develops the Divine life more quickly and' generally 
than the cloudy days and biting frosts of adversity. 
But the question had gone deeper than it was intended, 
and brought tears out of the fountain of her heart. 

During the interview with the child, whose pale face 
was bright, composed, and confiding, the Pastor asked, 
"Do you go to church?" She replied, "Yes sir ; Mamma 
and I go at night, and sit under the gallery. Papa has 
lost his money, and our clothes are not fit to sit with the 
fine people who go to church in the daytime." " Do 
you think you ought to unite with the church ?" " Yes 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



3 



sir," she answered, more calmly than many of maturer 
years could have done. " Don't you think you are too 
young ?" " aSo sir." " But your mother does." " Mamma 
is only afraid I won't hold out ; but Jesus has promised to 
help me." " You feel sure of your duty, though your 
mother does not think the same?" "Yes sir." "\Tell, 
give me your reason for so thinking." " Mamma read to 
me from the Testament, that Jesus said, 6 Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven f but nobody calls me 
a little child any more, so I guess I must be bigger than 
the ones He took into His arms," " Did you ever hear 
of a little girl seven years old coming to the com- 
munion?" "I don't know as I did; but I don't see 
why one should not. I think God is a father ; don't 
the Bible say so ?" " Yes." " Then don't fathers want 
their children to come to the table when they are 
hungry? My father does; and is not God better than 
any earthly father? Mamma says so !" 

The Pastor said to the mother, " Your child is cer- 
tainly born of God, for no child could form such an ex- 
perience out of her own mind ; no man or woman could, 
for it is not the product of genius, but grace. I will 
present her case to the Session and tell them what you 
have both said, and if the Session, which is one of great 
experience and prudence, agree to it, she might be re- 
ceived into the church. " Could you trust the judgment 
of the Session if they tell you that they think your 
daughter ought to be received into the church ?" She 



4 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



replied that her only wish was to do what was for the 
best, but said, " I am so unworthy I ought not to judge; 
do as you think right ;" and with these words she was 
overcome with weeping. 

This child was not as many of maturer years — all ab- 
sorbed about herself. Her father was not a Christian, 
and his business was against him. He was traveling, 
beyond the sanctities of home or the blessing of reg- 
ular habits in church-going. He did not often appear at 
the house of God ; and, so far as we know, no one ex- 
cept his little invalid daughter and his wife cared for 
his soul. He had just returned from a long business 
journey to find a marvelous change in his home. The 
Spirit of God was there, and it had been turned into the 
presence chamber of God and place of deep longings for 
good. Heaven had entered during his absence and had 
called his only child to the service of saving her father. 
She told him her purpose and of her interviews with the 
Pastor and of the blessed revival in progress in the 
church, from which she had been prevented by her 
delicate health. She begged him to go with her, when 
the communion should come, into the church. He said, 
u Daughter, I would be glad to go with you, but I am 
not fit. " But," said she, "God will give you fitness, as 
He did to me; and I will pray for you. Dear papa, 
won't you go with me? Mamma is going to unite with 
the church. There is church to-night," said she. u You 
go. Mamma and I will pray for you, that God will 
take all your fears away. He. promised, and was pres- 



MITES A GAIXST MILLIONS. 



5 



ent at the services, and did not disguise the fact of his 
deep concern for his soul. He remained at home not 
only on account of the sickness of his daughter, but on 
account of the more important fact that he felt that the 
time had come to seek that peace the world could 
neither give nor take away. Pie was finding new 
sources of devotion to this only child. He had thought 
theie could be no stronger ties than in his love for her, 
but he was to learn a new and stronger devotion in her 
love for him. What an eventful week that was when 
Christ was all the theme in that home, and every other 
interest was consumed in this. Those were growing 
days in the Cohocksink Church. It was entering the 
clouds of fear; but instead of failing, it was to be bap- 
tized in them. The church was urged to rise to its 
privilege, its joy, and heaven's joy in the exertions of 
its love and gratitude, to save souls. 

At one of the services the church was asked to 
engage in silent prayer and to become sponsor for those 
unfortunates, those spiritual orphans, willful and ne- 
glected, who were connected to the church by covenant, 
or who had put us under obligations by attending upon 
its services and contributing to its support, that the 
King might stretch out the golden sceptre to them. 
All in the house, saints and sinners, put themselves 
in an attitude of prayer ; and it seemed as though from 
every heart a prayer went up — an amazing scene. The 
Pastor was impressed that God's Spirit in some measure 
pervaded every heart, and was prompted to test it, by 



6 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



calling on the church first to say if the services should 
be protracted through the following week, saying, 
i( Brethren, this does not mean that you are merely 
willing to attend these services, but that you will lay 
aside every hindering cause ; that you will visit your 
friends, and speak to them about their salvation ; that 
you covenant to follow the suggestions of God's Spirit 
for yourselves, your families and neighbors. If you 
do not mean this, do not assent by rising in your 
places." Nearly the entire church rose. A few, as usual, 
could not adjust themselves to any forward movement 
— " afraid of excitements or of being fanatical, or not 
believing in revival methods." The Pastor then turned 
to the impenitent and said, " You see what the people of 
God propose to do for you — to pray for you, and to speak 
to you, to labor in every way possible for 1 your sal- 
vation this week. What will you do for yourselves? 
Will you promise to come to church ? Will you pray 
for yourselves? Will you let us pray for you till you 
cease to grieve the Holy Spirit, and let Him do unre- 
sisted what He will for you? Will you receive kindly 
these people of God, who seek your souPs good? If 
so, rise up." Almost all of this class arose, and so far 
as known kept their promise during the continuance of 
the services. 

The same deep seriousness pervaded the Sabbath- 
school in the afternoon. The superintendent, Elder 
Harvey, said to the teachers, " Teach for eternity and 
subsequent events showed that they had heeded the in- 
junction. 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



7 



At the close the younger children were dismissed, and 
only the adult classes were asked to remain, to whom 
the Pastor made a short address, urging upon them 
thoughtfulness, prayerfulness, and decision, announcing 
that he wished the Session would meet any who were 
willing even to talk upon the subject of their souls' in- 
terest, not knowing certainly that there was one in the 
house ready to take a step so decided. The hymn, " Lin- 
ger Not," was sung. One after another, male and female 
—more than fifty — responded, until the room was filled 
and two adjoining class-rooms. The Session and teachers 
were overwhelmed with joy to see the seed they had scat- 
tered so unskillfully, and often indifferently and wearily, 
ripened into such a surprising harvest. Their humili- 
ation at these results was as great as their unbelief had 
been, which had wrought carelessness in their work. 
They felt accused, as did Peter, when Jesus had com- 
manded him to launch out into the deep, who had op- 
posed his own judgment against possibility of success, 
saying, " Lord, we have toiled all night, and have taken 
nothing," giving only reluctant and faithless obedience; 
who afterward was confounded and confused at the 
result, cried, as if dazed by his unbelief and God's 
mercy, " Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful 
man." The emotion was so great, it was almost impos- 
sible to find any one who could get through a prayer for 
the penitents. This work of grace had begun before, 
but God just then opened our sealed and filmed vision 
to see it. This manifestation of the Holy Spirit's pres- 



8 MITES A GAINST MILL IONS. 



ence continued, reaching young and old, from children 
to men of seventy years, until over one hundred pro- 
fessed their faith. 

During this revival the father of the little girl made 
profession of his faith and was received into the church. 
The prayers of the mother and child were answered. A 
new sun broke upon their long grief-clouded horizon. 
They had lost their earthly estate, but had been made 
instead the heirs of an inheritance incorruptible, which 
fadeth not away, and had already received the first in- 
stalment in being an unbroken family in the hope that 
purifies the soul. 

Sickness had prevented the daughter from accom- 
panying her father, so she sent her prayers with him 
and laid patiently on her bed, more than repaid for its pri- 
vations in thankfulness over the answers which were soon 
returned. Being too ill to go out at night, and not able 
to be present at the meeting of the Session in the church, 
hers was made a special case; and, upon the presentatipn 
of the evidences of her spiritual life, which the Pastor 
had gained in his frequent visits, the Session deter- 
mined to send a committee, consisting of Elders Har- 
vey and Scott, to receive her at her home. 

She was weak and nervous. The thought of the 
event and the surprises of such happiness were too much 
for her feeble constitution, in which the evidences of con- 
sumption were already too visible for any hope beyond a 
few months. Her experience was so well known to the 
Pastor and Session that but few questions were asked. 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIOXS. 



9 



Few needed to be asked, for it was but too apparent 
that her childlike life would soon be developed in Christ- 
likeness in His immediate presence and in companion- 
ships of those gone before. She expressed the hope that 
she might be at the coming communion, and said she 
was praying for strength to be with her lather and 
mother, the sweetest desire of her heart. 

She was granted the wish of her life, and stood be- 
tween father and mother on that eventful day, now so 
rich in the memories of that great multitude — nearly one 
hundred — who stood up with her to profess Christ. 

As they were making their public profession they 
stood at the head of the large circle around the pulpit on 
the east side of the church. The lather changed places 
with the child, and she became the first of the circle. 
The reason for the change was afterwards explained. 
" I placed her there because she had become, by God's 
grace, the head of the family. I was unworthy, hav- 
ing neglected my duty; and it seemed as if we were 
to be led by a child into the kingdom of heaven." 
This was nothing new, for who has not seen often gray- 
haired parents, upon whom the frosts of unbelief had 
settled, whose hearts had been chilled by the cares and 
neglects of life, warmed into immortal vitality by the 
prayers and examples of their children — by that glorified 
childhood, which lies mthebosomof the utterances, "Ex- 
cept ye be converted, and become as little children, ye can- 
not enter the kingdom of heaven." "Out of the mouths 



10 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



of babes and sucklings" God is ever confounding the wis- 
dom of the world. The fortresses of human knowledge 
are pulled down by the Lilliputs of His grace. We often 
see like displays in the forces of nature, but fail to general- 
ize from them to guide us in the workings of grace. We 
can but admire the concentration and well-directed force 
in the little tug, which lies scarcely above the surface of 
the water, appearing not much larger than a man's 
body, taking two and three great ships from the harbor 
out to sea. So have we seen a wife or child, the weak- 
est fraction of a family in human estimation, taking out 
of life's dangers, snares, and tumults, the strong ones,, 
overcoming sharp resistances, "patiently enduring as 
seeing Him who is invisible," until all are brought into 
the desired haven. 

That Sabbath was a memorial day in the history of 
the church, as well as to this new-born family. It was 
deeply solemn — one of the moist-days in Christian life, 
when graces soiled through worldliness are washed in 
the tears which have their sources in broken and contrite 
hearts. It was a communion rich in joyful and sorrow- 
ful memories. 

In the breaking of the bread there was a solemn 
hush. It was to every heart more as a personal 
than a symbolic and historical act. Half-suppressed 
sobs and sighs were heard — some of penitence, others 
of freshened memories of the loved whose places were 
vacant. Those sitting apart by the aisles of separation — 



MITES A GAIXST MILLIONS. 



11 



the unwilling, those who were longing but fearful — wept 
over their unhappy condition. The communicants were 
asked to bow in a silent prayer for special wants ; for re- 
lief from those mute sorrows which course too deeply to 
be heard; and for patience to bear them; for the prodi- 
galSj covenant-treasures, given in vows by prayerful 
lips now silent in death. 



CHAPTER II. 



In the days of their abundance the parents aimed to 
gratify every wish of this only child. Until she was 
six years old she had never heard of need and the 
struggles it imposes. The year of reverses through 
which they had passed seemed to have advanced her 
five years beyond her age. She talked as one who had 
gone far in the experiences of life. 

The journey from New England to Philadelphia was 
to her mother one of sad forebodings. It was to be a 
wrestle with want in a strange city, far from home and 
friends. The father was a commercial traveler; and 
they were to be deprived of his presence, living in 
dread of harm to him through sickness or accident on 
his journeys. The mother, in the city of strangers, had 
no companion but her daughter. Of course, in this 
eventful year, hearing all the fears and trials of her 
mother, she grew old; but beneath all this an unseen 
power was bringing the tender plant to perfection by 
putting perfection into the flower for transplanting into 
more genial surroundings. 

We have often to confront the pertinent question, 
sometimes in tears^ sometimes in jesting, " How is it 
that all the good little children of whom we read in 
books always die?" We answer, How is it that the 
largest and most promising; fruit falls earliest to the 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



13 



ground? It ripens first; it has been in a favorable 
position, where it was washed by the first dews and 
folded in the first sun rays. The winds tested hardest 
its strength of stem ; and as it grew in proportion, beauty, 
flavor, and tinting, it loosens its hold upon the bough 
and falls unchilted before the coming of autumnal frosts. 
Observation shows this in God's grace as in nature; to 
open eyes its mysteries are common-places. On the 
young spirit of this child, whose time of education for 
heaven was counted by days instead of years, severe 
and quick discipline was set to the preparation. Dark 
Providences were called to the services, as they would 
seem — obscure to the natural vision — but by these 
poverty and grace began the work of polishing this 
jewel, that it might be fit for a glorious setting. 

A single fact will show the beg-inninff and ending. 
Among the gifts received by her was an iron box or 
bank, into which in better days was placed the small 
change, which it was the rule of the household to give 
her; every three-cent nickel was understood to be her 
tithing. She was thus saving to get for herself a set of 
jewelry, "when she should be a young lady." But in 
the day of reverses she changed her purpose regarding 
the contents of this bank. She would say in her sweet, 
trusting, simple way to her mother, when the burden of 
poverty and loneliness would force her into weeping, 
" Don't cry, mamma ; I will give you the money in my 
bank." The mother said, "I cannot tell how often 
this offer brought repose and even sunshine to my 
troubled heart." 



14 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



After her union with the church she again changed 
the direction of her treasure. One morning at break- 
fast she said, "I think I must put my bank in heaven. " 
"Why," said her mother, "I was counting on it to help 
us if our money should run out. If anything should 
happen your father, you know we would not have 
enough to live on a week." She was silent and thought- 
ful all the morning. At luncheon she said, " Ma, I 
have been thinking about my bank, and it seems to me 
that I ought to put it in heaven, for you know that you 
read to me, ( Where your treasure is, there will your 
heart be also.' I want my heart to be in heaven, but 
while the bank is mine I keep thinking what nice 
things I could buy with it ; and the old purpose before 
papa's troubles comes back and troubles me — what nice 
jewelry I could get with it when I get to be a young 
lady. If I should give it to God, I would know it was 
His, and to think about taking it would be stealing ; 
and you know God has promised to take care of His 
children, and I am not afraid of being needy or hungry. 
Don't we have enough every day ? Can't God keep 
pa next week as well as this ?" 

This ended the conversation for weeks. "But," said 
the mother, " it taught me a lesson I needed. It was a 
rebuke to my want of faith and fruitless tears, which I 
hope has been a blessing ever since. It seems as though 
God were reproving my distrust by the mouth of the 
babe of my bosom." 

A change had now r come that was unmistakable in 



MITES A GAIXST MILLIONS. 15 



Irs meaning, that this young Christian was now to 
know the passive side of spiritual life, and in her re- 
maining days to gain victories by contest with pain — 
"Out of weakness made strong. " The chill winds of 
March, coming salted and iced from the sea, weakened 
a frail body already strained by a mind beyond its 
strength. The hope of going the next Sabbath to 
church, and then the next, bore her brightly through 
each week. When the looked-for day came, weakness 
and a dry and harrassing cough would anticipate her 
fond hopes. But she took up these shattered hopes again 
for the " next Sunday " smiling through the weary hours 
of pain another week. It was evident that disease was 
gaining the mastery. The cheerful smile became a 
halo to the fever-flushed face, and the shadows of death 
began to gather. The great problem was now to keep 
her alive until the genial sun should dissolve the snows 
and mitigate the chill winds back in their native Xew 
England, whither the mother purposed to take her dearest, 
all that she had in this world, now slipping from her 
embrace. The child comprehended the situation, and be- 
gan to adjust herself to it, as summer's leaf to autumn 
sunshine, on which the impress of death first appears 
in the changed color of the veins, deepening gradually 
into crimson and gold ; but her life anticipated the 
autumn, and withered under the breath of March. 
She began to talk strangely of a life that at first, to 
those who loved her, seemed afar off To them it 
was as if she spake in parables, or uttered "dark say- 



16 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



ings on the harp and in unwillingness to recognize 
the truth, attributed it to the effect of morphia given to 
lull the cough and bring sleep to weary eyes. But she 
brought heaven nearer every day, and was daily becom- 
ing more intimate with God. She reached the sublime 
altitude where death seemed but a speck on the widen- 
ing disk of a rising life. She ever welcomed the visits 
of her Pastor as the occasion of finding out something 
new about heaven. She could hardly wait to answer 
questions as to her health, but would begin at once to 
ask about heaven, as if to puncture the veil which hung 
between. Her eye would catch a strange, unearthly 
lustre, seeming to scan immortality with its searching 
gaze. The 14th chapter of St. John and the 22d chapter 
of Revelation were her fields of investigation, re very, 
and delight. 

On a bright May morning, when she was being con- 
veyed to the train to go to one of the New England 
States, (we think, though not certain, Vermont,) she 
said, " I don't think it will do me any good. I may 
never come back ; but mamma will feel better about it, 
and I hope I shall breathe easier so high up, and be 
nearer heaven. Good by, dear Pastor; remember me 
to the Sabbath- school ; pray for me, that I may get 
through ; and if I don't come back, I will look for 
you in heaven. " 



CHAPTER III. 



Fbom the other sources were gleaned the incidents 
recorded here as links binding her past with the after- 
fragment of time, when the relation of pastor and 
dying parishioner were again renewed. 

After reaching the mountain heights, with the pleas- 
ant surroundings and tender solicitude of kindred, she 
seemed to revive, and was able to go occasionally to 
church and Sabbath-school; and her work of love was 
not suspended. She lived Christ, and commended Him 
so attractively that her young associates, whether Chris- 
tians or not, were never weary hearing of that faith 
which was to her hope, joy, and life. The summer 
passed away in alternate light and shadow, hope and 
fear, to the anxious mother ; but the sunset was near, 
and the shadows deepened daily. 

In the early autumn the family returned to Philadel- 
phia, hoping by the milder winter to put off the inevita- 
ble day. She hoped and prayed that she might once 
more go to church and Sabbath-school. One day she 
said to the Pastor, (i If I could go to the communion 
once more, I think it would be all I should want," and 
then asked, " Do you think I shall know everything 
when I die, or will I lose my sight first ? I hope I 
will not die blind. I want to see papa and mamma 
before the Saviour comes to take me to His arms. Do 

you think it will be dark on the way to heaven ?" The 

2 



18 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



Pastor said " No." " Then what does it mean in the 
23d Psalm about the 6 Valley of the shadow of death V " 
" I think that is often passed long before we reach 
death. It is not death ; it is only the shadow of death," 
replied the Pastor. " I think it means the hard, dark 
struggle, when we first find out that we must die, and 
have not yet received the dying grace which makes us 
willing to go." " I am glad," she said, " that it won't 
be dark, for I want to know all ; and when I get to 
heaven I will ask the Lord to comfort papa and mamma, 
for I know that I shall see them again. I am glad we 
were made poor, for we would never have come to Phila- 
delphia ; we would never have come to your church, 
and would not have been Christians. Do you think 
the time will seem long when we want something in 
heaven as it does here ?" " No ; there is no such thing 
as time in heaven. You know a thousand years are 
but as a day with God; why do you want to know?" 
" Because I want soon to see papa and mamma." 

The winter months crept wearily on, the shadows of 
death growing darker; her eager inquiries about the 
home so near were pressed, more from anxiety to know 
what awaited her than from fear lest she should be lost 
by the way. In her exhaustion she lay as one from 
whose body the spirit would go and return, as if loth for 
a final departure. For hours she would be apparently 
pulseless, and then would rouse with all the functions of 
life astir again. Watching her preparations for heaven 
in her surrounding conditions, we were reminded of 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



19 



what we have seen in bird-life. When the swallows 
come out of their nests, in the first warm April days/and 
perch upon the fence-rails, the old birds stretch their wings 
downward to their utmost length, while the young ones 
try to do the same with their half-grown pinions. This 
is repeated every sunny day, until young and old can 
stretch their wings alike, when all suddenly rise, and 
on outspread pinions soar to other climes. 

Day after day all waited to hear of the child's release, 
but she lingered, as she said God was keeping her until 
her father and mother were willing to part with her. 
The pastor had been absent, preaching at Lafayette 
College, and upon entering the pulpit on the Sabbath 
following his return, found a note — " Please come up 
and see Fannie ; we think she is dying." This request 
was complied with at evening, an hour or two before 
service. It had been a sombre, chilly clay, but now the 
sun had cast off the thraildom of shadows, and was 
rejoicing in his triumph, glorifying the ranks of cloud 
that had shut him out all day from greeting his king- 
dom, and now was going down after the contest in a sea 
of gold. 

A flood of softened radiance came through the open 
window upon the pallid face, from which unseen angels 
might have caught the last smile, and borne it back to 
God. The struggle was past, and the pilgrim was almost 
through the land of Beulah. She had talked with her 
parents and young friends during the day, and had 
divided her little treasures, giving to those who had 



20 



MITES A GAINST Mill IONS. 



visited her in sickness, and ordering others to be given 
to loved ones far away. Then she began to talk of her 
bank and its treasure, of which she had said nothing 
since the conversation with her mother about giving it 
to God to avoid temptation. She now said, "I have 
been thinking what to do with this, which is not mine, 
but God's, and which I think He wants me to use before 
I go away. I would like to see our Pastor, and give it 
to him to use for me." This was the occasion of the 
summons. She said, " Ma, I do not want to see the 
Pastor in this soiled gown. Would you put on my 
best dress, fix my hair, and put a clean spread on the 
bed?" And she was thus arranged when the Pastor 
came. 

She spoke feebly, saying, " I wanted to see you before 
I go. The doctor thinks I will go home to-night. He 
did not think it worth while to leave me any medi- 
cine. Papa and mamma are willing; and I am so 
glad, because I have suffered so long, and know Jesus 
so well. I have been with Him so much since I have 
been sick that I know Him better than anybody, and am 
not afraid to go. But I want to hear you sing — 

* I'm but a stranger here ; 
Heaven is my home,' 

As you used to sing it in the revival, and then pray for 
me." Kneeling beside her, holding the well-nigh pulse- 
less hand, with lips close to her ear, the Pastor tried to- 
pray, and is not ashamed to say that it was with a dry 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



21 



tongue and tearful eves. Seeming so much further from 
God than she, it was a great effort to commend her to 
God who was so much nearer heaven than himself. 
Gladly would he have put his ear to her mute lips and 
let her pray for him. 

After this prayer she said, " Mamma, I want you to 
get the money out of the bank." This she did, and 
laid it by her hand. She then asked for her medicine- 
box from the stand beside her pillow. This she opened, 
and seeing the powders in it, said, " I shall not want 
them," and, taking them outplaced the money gathered 
through years, nearly all in three-cent pieces, amount- 
ing to four dollars and forty-one cents. She replaced 
the lid on the box, and with eyes glowing with heavenly 
lustre, said, " I want you to take this money, and promise 
me, so that when I am in heaven I shall knoic that it is 
done, and build with it a church for poor people like ue." 

In her childish simplicity she thought the sum suffi- 
cient. The Pastor was confounded, even though he 
did not begin to comprehend the magnitude of the 
promise. He said, " Four dollars and forty-one 
cents won't build a church. It will take at least 
forty or fifty thousand dollars." She looked for a 
moment surprised and disappointed, then thought a 
moment, and said, " I xcill pray for youT And as she 
closed her eyes he leaned over her to hear, but could 
catch only a word or two, but knew it had been offered 
and accepted. He realized then the stupendous under- 



22 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



taking thus bequeathed to him, but was afraid to say 
more, feeling the presence of God in that solemn mo- 
ment. He rose, took her by the hand, saying, " Fannie, 
with God's help, I will try" She looked satisfied, closed 
her eyes, and he never saw them open again. 

The following is a fac-simile of the legacy-box 
and coins. 



CHAPTER IV. 

This pilgrim on her brief journey had carried a 
golden candlestick, the light of which still shines after 
the light-bearer had been lifted to her throne. In the 
room, beside the deserted tabernacle from whence the 
guest had departed, knelt the stricken mother. This 
was all that was left of her dearest treasure, and she 
felt that it was no unfaithfulness to her promise of sub- 
mission to God's will, thus to cling to the cold remnant 
of that which had been given of Him, for cheer and 
comfort through painful trials, and which He had re- 
called, that henceforth nothing should stand between 
herself and Him. The dead face was serene and beau- 
tiful, the pain-marked features composed, as if body 
and soul had floated out into everlasting calm. She 
was dressed in white, the brown locks, which had 
been shortened because of her painful tossings, curled 
and crowning the white brow ; they had been turned 
about a loving mother's finger, and preserved the tender 
impress in shining rings. The cold hands, crossed upon 
the breast, held a white rose, brought by a young com- 
panion the night before. The vain solicitations of a 
mother's ardent kisses were impetuously applied, as 
if to revivify the pallid lips. To the Pastor, who 
stood beside her, the mother exclaimed, "This is 
all I have left of life; and must I give this up 

too?" He replied, "Yes; it is dear now, but it 

23 



24 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



will soon be in your way." " Don't say that anything 
that was hers could ever be in the way!" He an- 
swered, " I did not need to tell you this. I should 
have left it to the Lord to teach it ; but it is an experi- 
ence before you, and when you come to it, it will not 
be hard. The death of the loved one is to the Christian 
little more than a change of perceptions. It is a mere 
passing beyond the cognizance of sense. So long as this 
deserted house lies before you, however beautiful and 
precious, you will not see your daughter. It is now 
between you and her. You must look for her where 
she is. A tear was enough to dim the recognition of 
our risen Lord from Mary, who mistook Him for the 
gardener. Sense can never make any better progress in 
knowing God, or those who are present in Him, than to 
mistake them for servants. In a fragment attributed 
to Bunyan is this conception of the hinderances of grief: 
A woman was weeping for her departed child, refusing 
to be comforted, when an angel appeared and asked the 
cause of her tears. She said, 6 Don't you know that 
my only child is dead?' He replied, 'She is not dead, 
I can show you.' And putting a spy-glass to her eye 
bade her look ; but she fretfully said, ' I cannot see any- 
thing.' Then said the angel, 'Wipe the tear from your 
eye, and you will see.' So until we have put away the 
objects of sense, and have shut ourselves in to faith, we 
shall not be able to understand. 'What I do thou 
knowest not now, but shall know hereafter.' When our 
loved ones are removed from sight, God compensates 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



25 



by two other mediums. Memory becomes the mirror 
of the past, and faith the revealer of the future ; and 
through these nothing comes to us of our departed but 
the beautiful. Their sins and short-comings go into an 
oblivion which even memory never enters. 6 Blessed 
are they who have their friends taken out of the body 
and enthroned in memory. Thrice blessed are they 
who, not seeing, believe the promise of God, that the 
dead are and shall be. 7 " On the Sabbath afternoon 
after her departure, a service was held at the house, at 
which the few friends who knew the family were pres- 
ent, consisting of a part of the Session and Sabbath- 
school teachers; and on Monday morning the Pastor 
was present and made the parting prayer. 

The form of the dead child was borne forever from 
our sight, to its resting-place beside their dead in the 
churchyard of their once Xew England home. At 
parting with the Pastor the mother said, u I can only 
thank you for what you and the church have been to 
ns. If my heart could speak, I could give a more 
worthy tribute. I shall not see you again/' 

This seemed only a conjecture of present grief, which 
would pass away when time and grace should make the 
world seem brighter. But it proved not to be only the 
prophecy of grief ; for she pined away, and in a few 
months she, too, dropped from the stem of life^, and was 
laid beside the one she loved so well. Meeting the 
father a few moments at a railway station, between oppo- 



26 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



site going trains, he hastily told the sad story of how 
the life of the mother had ended. 

Years have passed since, and it seems as if those livens 
had sunk into an ocean, whose waters had closed over 
them with not a bubble to mark the spot. But when 
mind and matter leave the places where the pure and 
noble have fallen, their scattered deeds come back, and 
build for them lasting monuments, whose foundations 
rest upon the immutability of God, whose tops touch the 
confines of immortality. The woman who broke the 
alabaster box and anointed the Saviour's feet stole 
silently away between reproach and benediction. No 
memory survives of when or how she died. But she 
lives ; and by the command of Him who says, " I am 
alive evermore, and have the keys of death and hell," 
she has an immortality like a soltaire in the bosom of 
the everlasting Gospel ; for wherever it shall be 
preached it shall be told as a memorial of her, "for she 
hath done what she could." And the life, of which these 
pages are given as a memorial, has also its glorious record 
in " she hath done what she could." She gave herself 
and her all. Her grave is unknown to the world, like 
that of the great prophet, whom God buried with His 
own hands. But it was like shutting off the outer 
lights, that the light of the camera might display most 
clearly the one illuminated, chosen, central object upon 
the screen. 

No child of her age and circumstances ever lived to be 
so widely known, whose name will be so revered in the 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



27 



work she has left in the world. Xo story of a single 
human effort has been so associated with the joy of 
angels over the redeemed as this last act of dedication. 
The facts seem like a romance, but in their truth they are 
stronger than fiction. Her advent in our city for but 
little more than a year, driven before the inexorable hand 
of poverty to sufferings so severe and trying, is the dark 
background whereon grace has wrought effects of won- 
drous power and beauty. We see first the mother and 
child coming into the house of God, sitting under the 
gallery at night from a sense of shame at the contrast 
with those who had an abundance, but who, perhaps, 
were less rich in gratitude and devotion ; then the child 
brino-ino; both father and mother to the communion and 
fellowship of the church ; and after this short but glori- 
ous work was done, lying sweetly down to die, and in 
the hour of death starting out agencies from her last 
heart-throbs to bless as long as mercy will plead and 
pardon will be given. The panorama of such a life can 
but lend effect to the lines which tell the wonders of 
redemption. 



I 



CHAPTER Y. 

This treasure-box and its covenant was the burden of 
years. It was a perplexing problem how to employ a 
gift so small, being unable to see beyond four dollars 
and forty-one cents. Faith had not been added as the 
multiple by which mites are made to equal millions. 
The Cohocksink Church, of which the child became a 
member, had in a few years a growth, under the marvels 
of Divine grace, which was a wonder to all who knew 
its beginning in an obscure, stuccoed building, badly 
situated, with a foundry on one side and paving-stones 
and railroad rubbish on the other. Here a noble band 
had struggled with poverty, obscurity, and depression 
since 1840 ; but hardships had made them sincere in 
faith, ready for heroic deeds, which they afterwards per- 
formed in the year 1866-67, with sublime labor and 
self-denial in the building of the present imposing struc- 
ture situated on Franklin Street and Columbia Avenue, 
costing over seventy thousand dollars, a memorial of 
their faith and energy. It was a church that could be 
best governed by giving its members so much to do that 
there was no time for stratagems and strife if they had 
been so tempted. Such discipline, so effected, was the 
very pulse of prosperity. The Sabbath-school numbered 
for the year over a thousand scholars. The church in- 
creased at the rate of nearly one hundred members a 

year for six years, the church edifice, one of the largest 
28 



MITES A GA1XST MILLIONS. 



29 



in the city, being so crowded that the Session and Trus- 
tees had under consideration the extension of the gal- 
leries around the interior, a plan in which the Pastor 
was not enthusiastic, as seven hundred members are 
more than any Pastor can care for without detriment to 
either people, health, or pulpit. During these councils 
about enlarging the building, light seemed to break as to 
the disposal of the child's trust and the fulfillment of the 
covenant made at its reception. The church was full of 
young life, spoiling for something to do that could be 
identified with itself as its own peculiar work. These 
young people desired to start a mission, but this was 
premature. The church could not spare them, for it 
was in its transition, and the loss of so much young 
blood might weaken its activities. Some of the people 
became fretted at what seemed to be unreasonable per- 
sistence, and a breach was apparent, and growing wider. 
The Pastor realized the dangers, feeling it perilous to 
go against the conservative and thoughtful element; 
but, if possible, more perilous to be separated from 
fifteen or twenty of his most promising young men, for 
any pastor is superannuated, even in the noontide of his 
life, who permits the ardor, strength, and love of young 
manhood and womanhood to fall from him. To avert 
this peril he promised, if they would stay and work with 
the church until its future under God was secure, and it 
should be recovered from the financial strain it had 
been under, that he would see that they should have a 
place and help in their wish to found and build a mission. 



30 MITES A GAINST MILL TONS. 



The first step to this end was the securing from the 
Central Presbytery (O. S.) the territory, then but sparsely 
settled, west of Mnth Street, east of Broad Street, and 
north of Columbia Avenue as a missionary field for the 
Cohocksink Church. The next step was, he hoped, to 
be the solution of the difficulty between the officers of 
the church and the young men, now fast culminating. 
To avoid also the expedient of enlarging the mother- 
church, and for the appropriation of the sacred legacy, 
which was becoming a chronic care, the Pastor purchased 
the lot of ground northeast corner of Broad and Dia- 
mond Streets, taking the individual responsibility to 
avoid any church complications which might arise if 
purchased by the congregation or their Trustees, The 
purpose of this was to get the church, which had, at 
this time, almost boundless capacity and willingness, 
rightly directed, to erect one story of a permanent build- 
ing, finishing it gradually with such additional help as 
could be secured outside, and, at its completion, to pro- 
pose to the mother-church to send out a colony to oc- 
cupy the place, one of the best, prospectively, and is 
now, in many respects, in the city, the pastor going 
with the colony or remaining with the church as Pres- 
bytery should think best. 

The prospect of thus sending out a church, free from 
debt, of young people full of zeal and intelligence, under 
God's favor, was a source of great happiness. But by 
succeeding events the purpose of thus disposing of the 
covenant trust was knocked into the very bosom of an 
uncertainty that well-nigh reached despair. 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



31 



The last year of the pastorate had its occasional fore- 
bodings of disagreement between the young men and the 
older ones of the church ; the breach seemed to be widen- 
ing, and it was impossible to decide against either, for 
they were both conscientiously doing what they thought 
was for the glory of God. The services of the Week of 
Prayer developed unusual religious interest, which cul- 
minated in one of those memorable revivals with which, 
through nearly seven years, God had owned and crowned 
the faith and labors of this people. 

At the close of the long protracted services, during 
the serious illness of the Pastor, a congregational meet- 
ing was held, in which the latent spirit of impatience, 
with the official membership of the church specially, 
became apparent — some of the younger men taking the 
opportunity to nominate Trustees in sympathy, as they 
supposed, with their purposes. Other evidences of coming 
defection between the parties appeared, which seemed 
to subvert all the prospective plans for the building of 
the new church. These little disturbances, which in 
health would only have been warnings to prudence, 
preyed upon the mind and spirits of the Pastor; and 
this was intensified by the forebodings of those whose 
love for the church was more intense than their forti- 
tude in resisting and correcting what could have been 
obviated. During this illness, two of the Elders and 
two of the Trustees in person came to consult with 
reference to the pastorate of the Alexander Church, then 
vacant and in a great financial crisis. The resignation 



32 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



of the previous pastor had created some feeling, on ac- 
count of which and other troubles many were leaving 
and giving up their pews in the church. It was also rep- 
resented that the Mercantile Library Association was 
about to foreclose a mortgage of $26,000, if the church 
did not get a Pastor and give signs of relieving itself 
from debt. Consequently the property, which had cost 
nearly $100,000, was in peril of going into the hands of 
the Papists — a motive which would never have weight 
again, having by experience come to believe that Prot- 
estants who permit themselves to be so overwhelmed 
with debt might be taught a profitable though painful 
lesson in seeing the wiser Catholics enjoying the fruit 
of their folly. 

The Alexander Church was the crippled child of the 
Presbyterian household, claiming . sympathy by its 
chronic troubles. Sentimental ism ruled the hour with the 
Pastor, and consent was given to the consideration of a 
call, the night after which the tide of events changed in the 
Cohocksink Church ; but the Pastor felt compromised, 
and could do no better than throw the responsibility on 
Presbytery, which, under the entreaties of a faithful 
church, refused to make the change. But the Alex- 
ander Church was in process of dissolution, and despair- 
ing; and Presbytery reopened the case, at the advice of 
Rev. George Musgrave, D.D., and others, under the 
eloquent pleas of Dr. Ruel Stewart and the late William 
J. McElroy. Of the latter it is but just to record the 
universal judgment of all who heard, that his was one 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



of the most chaste, feeling, and effective speeches in be- 
half of the Alexander Church ever heard in any eccle- 
siastical court. Elder George Gabel, who was pleading 
for the Cohocksink Church with all the force of facts, 
power, and fervor, said only a few days ago, "I was con- 
founded by that speech. I found every argument turned 
against me, and myself convinced by its eloquence, pathos, 
and power/' The allegory of the shepherdless lamb, 
by which he compared the condition of the two churches, 
was powerful in its influence. Notwithstanding this, Pres- 
bytery was loth to rend such ties, and it was only 
carried in favor of the Alexander Church by a single 
vote. This put the treasure and covenant to build a 
church all adrift. The change was one of great trial. 
Debt upon the house of God is the very emissary of 
Satan ; both pastor and people are under the eclipse of 
a chronic lie, professing to have given the house they 
worship in to God, while the wrongs of unpaid laborers 
cry to heaven. Perdition never invented a spear more 
poignant with which to pierce the heart of the cause of 
Christ. A church in debt is under more or less hypoc- 
risy that is alike demoralizing to Pastor and people. 
Debts must be covered; for if they are known, "small- 
pox" might as well be written over the door — the rich 
will not come in, and the poor cannot pay them. Pews 
will go unlet, and as the pastor always pays the interest 
on the debt, lie is usually blamed if he don't pay the 
debt out-right, the expectation being that he will make 
himself so popular that surplus pew-rents will clear the 



34 MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 

debt, and the church become a paying institution in- 
stead of a living sacrifice with constant thank-offerings 
on the altar of God, a daily oblation of self and all that 
self possesses. 

In a church burdened by debt the language of simu- 
lation will become, unconsciously, the daily vernacular. 
Something must be forever hidden. If Pastor or Session 
are asked by Presbytery how the church is progressing, 
they have to fence or walk around something, or, as a 
noted pastor of this city replied, when called on to say 
if his salary had been paid up, that his church was in a 
"promising condition." The people are also at a disad- 
vantage, knowing the church to be in a chronic agony, 
as if a grain of sand were in its eye, because the truth will 
keep people away or gi v T e rival churches the advantage of 
their misfortune. Or if they are in a bad humor they 
will exaggerate its distresses; or, if piqued at the Pastor, 
will censure him for mishaps which common honesty 
would trace to the leprous-spot, church debt. It is 
doubtful if one of the inspired Apostles could sustain 
himself in a church fifty thousand dollars in debt for ten 
or fifteen years, with all the hateful complications, unless 
he were sustained by the miraculous pow T er of God. 
There is but little vital piety where the shadows of debt 
forever chill. The piety that does live in it is prone to be 
crabbed and cheerless. Debt is a clog on the soul, a 
break on all progress, alike hateful to God and man. 
The change to this state of affairs was from sunshine 
into shadow, the depression lying alike upon Pastor and 



MITES A G A IX ST MILLIONS. 



35 



people. The latter from long habit of expecting failure 
had become self-distrustful. Great promises had been 
made of outside help, which are so often deceptive. 
There is a great multitude always ready to assist in 
getting a pastor by telling of the number of pews that 
would instantly be taken if he would take the place. 
These, as is their inevitable custom, were not on the spot, 
but in their stead there came with the Pastor, mostly 
from the Cohocksink Church, a few substantial people, 
to join the faithful remnant already therein, who, 
knowing all about the situation, came to help, and 
attested their fidelity to Christ by the thousands they 
placed in the empty treasury. Other compensations 
also came in the form of a most Godly and faithful 
Session; and the church, from less than one hundred 
and seventy members, increased in numbers and piety. 
The Elders, in their pleas before Presbytery, said the 
church had tried everything to extricate itself but piety, 
and this was their hope, the test of their salvation. 
Officers and people fell into the habit of saying, " If God 
would give us a revival we could pay the debt." 
God accepted the conditions, and during the first winter 
there was a remarkable work of grace, in which about 
one hundred and twenty members were added to the 
church. 

After this the people were reminded of their engage- 
ment, and faithfully fulfilled it. Some of their self- 
denials would read like romances. About thirty-five 
thousand dollars were raised in the fearful financial crisis 



36 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



which began with the failure of Jay Cook. In the in- 
terim between 1873 and 1876 the additions to the church 
amounted to over three hundred ; and all this time the 
church was under the strain of paying the debt and 
making repairs, which had been neglected for twelve 
years, amounting to about seventeen thousand dollars 
additional. These details are to show the line and steps 
by which the providence of God brought about the ful- 
fillment of the eiiixa!2fernenfc made so long before. 

In all those years that promise was a heavy weight; 
dreams of neglect and dread warnings haunted the sleep- 
ing hours. It seemed at times as if the Angel of the 
Covenant was shadowing every step, saying, " Go up 
and build the promised house of God?" 

Every endeavor to interest the wealthy was without 
avail, until one day, while alone with an old friend and 
parishioner, the late Hon. Henry T. Blow, who had 
been a co-laborer in the building of the Carondalet 
Avenue Church in St. Louis. Almost incidentally, the 
story of the little box, the life, death, and covenant to 
the child who gave it was told. The tears came to his 
eyes, and he showed deep emotion — a surprise to us, for 
it had been told before, and had brought no tears to any 
eye. He said, " Keep your engagement to that precious 
child. Don't think of giving it up, and you may draw 
on me foi? one thousand dollars as soon as you begin." 
If a voice of approval had come from the skies, it could 
not have been a greater inspiration. It was from a 
friend whom we had learned to trust, and whose word 
was his best security. 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 37 



He was not an emotional person, though tender- 
hearted; and it was the first intimation of the marvel- 
ous power of the story to break the heart. These tears 
over its pathos were a revelation. It had seemed before 
as if we had in this incident and covenant been on the 
Mount alone with God, hearing words not to be uttered ; 
but here was an unexpected lesson of success, the first 
manifestation of the power of the story over which mul- 
titudes have wept, and which has brought thousands of 
dollars from the pockets of saints and sinners in this 
and in foreign lands. 



CHAPTER VI. 

From this day the irresistible impulse was fixed, and 
each day of delay was a torment. Sometimes the shad- 
ows in illness would gather, which would be intensified 
by the fear that life would end with the pledge unre- 
deemed. The promise of the thousand dollars was con- 
strued into a Divine intimation to commence the work; 
but this proved a phantom ; for the thousand dollars was 
lost by the sudden death of the friend who promised it, 
before any steps had been taken by which it could have 
been a legal claim on his estate. But he intended it, and 
it was the first hope; and darkness irradiated by dying 
meteors is better than no light at all. 

The thread of the history requires a return to the 
affairs of the Alexander Church. The years of that 
financial crisis which swept our country were sad and 
trying ones. Families who had lived well on comfort- 
able salaries were reduced. Many pews were^given up by 
removals of members to places of cheaper rents. Re- 
citals of poverty were on every side. Members w T ho 
had assumed obligations toward the liquidation of the 
debt were depleted by their large subscriptions. Pas- 
tor and people were crippled alike in the burdens as- 
sumed in those trying eight years, and some never 
recovered from it. The promised church, whose record 
was in heaven, was, however, a daily and nightly 

thought, often shadowed necessarily by half despair, 

38 



MITES A.GAINST MILLIONS. 



39 



In the beginning of 1876 Mr. Moody held in this city 
his revival meetings, and, being on the Executive Com- 
mittee, the opportunity was had of talking with him 
upon the all-absorbing theme, as to how to dispose of 
this obligation, for it was becoming a matter of fear. 

He was strong in his convictions and the expression 
of them as to the duty of fulfilling the promise. So 
were many others. Counsel was not wanting; but help 
out of the dilemma was not apparent. Mr. Moody's 
counsel was, " Have faith, and take the first step." But 
the troublesome question was still, How far can one go 
in such an undertaking without money? It was the 
faith that can coin money out of itself that was needed. 
However, the conversation and advice deepened the pur- 
pose, and this was as much needed as money. 

During the early months of the year 1876 the Alex- 
ander Church was again blessed by the presence of thQ 
Spirit of God ; and the faith of her members, wearied 
by the financial adversities of years, was lifted into a 
free and happy life, for it was the first time since the 
organization of the church, nearly twenty years before, 
that it had ever truthfully been said that it was free 
from debt for any of the three edifices which had shel- 
tered it in its career of vicissitudes. All this and Jesus 
Christ was indeed a blessed boon. A large; number 
were added to the church — nearly one hundred. The 
hearts of all were gladdened, and as a blessed result a 
large company of young men were converted and re- 
vived. 



40 MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 



The swelling of this River of Life had lifted many dry 
and lifeless hulks that had rested at high water mark from 
some former freshet, and they were set afloat again, and 
needed to be kept in motion by plenty of hard work for 
Christ, and they were anxious for it. The Spirit of God at 
this time reached also the hearts of men and women of 
advanced years and of wealth and influence. Some de- 
gree of that blessed experience was once expressed by 
a young disciple who, joining the Baptist Church, was 
about to be immersed. In process of disrobing him pre- 
paratory to the sacrament, one of the brethren was about 
to take his pocket-book lest the bills might be spoiled 
by the wetting. Perceiving it, he said, "Let it alone; 
I want my pocket-book to be baptized as well as my- 
self." So we had a few pocket-books baptized, or re- 
baptized ; and with the company of young men, and a 
lively sense of the mercies of God, it was proposed as a 
thank offering for deliverance from debt and restoration 
to self-respect, and for the blessed presence of the Holy 
Ghost, to mike a departure from the previous melan- 
choly march, in which a feeling of financial agony hung, 
like a wilted wreath upon a corpse, ever present. 

A meeting of the Session was called to discuss the 
subject, and a blessed one it was, as were all the meet- 
ings of this most worthy body. It was the time of the 
weary cry, "Watchman, what of the night?" The, 
answer came, " Morning cometh and light broke, 
transfiguring the covenant over which the years had 
rolled their shadows. The members of the Session were 



MITES A GA INS T MILLIONS. 41 



all present, and after a general expression of gratitude 
for the hopeful condition of the church, the Pastor told, 
the first time in Session, the story of the treasure given 
to his care, displaying the coins, which drew upon the 
hearts of the Session at once, and a resolve was made 
and recorded to found as soon as possible a mission- 
school, with the hope that in the future it might become 
a church — to be the realization of the child's request 
and the Pastor's engagement to carry it out. Before 
it was made a matter of record it was the subject of 
prayer and thanksgiving, in which the late Elder 
McElroy led in a prayer peculiar to the man, which 
told of his nearness to God. On motion of Elder 
Stewart the following preamble and resolution were 
adopted : — 

u In view of the temporal and spiritual condition of 
our church, and of the necessity of having some outside 
Christian work for the large number of young men in 
our communion, and in gratitude to God for His mer- 
cies to us, Therefore, Resolved, That it is the sense of this 
Session that some missionary enterprise be started in 
connection with our church, and that we believe the 
northern portion of our city to be the proper place 
therefor, and that we will start in this work at the 
earliest moment practicable. 

"W. j. Mcelroy, cierh" 

This was the first step of the undertaking. 
In recounting the motives urged on us by trustful 
hearts it is but just to mention. Mr. Adam Warthtnan, 



42 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



of whose household the Pastor was a member. The 
subject often came up, with its duties, fears, and hopes. 
His advice was always to go forward, which was one 
day emphasized when the endeavor to build a wooden 
building was being discussed. He said, "Go on with it; 
and I will put the roof on for you/' which was faith 
manifested in works, which we accepted as the genuine 
article. This engagement was fulfilled in a short time 
after; and not only this, but many more, as he and his 
family were among the first workers and givers and in 
endeavors and sacrifices amounting to thousands, until 
they have the joy of seeing their brightest hopes for the 
future of this work more than realized. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The locality for the proposed mission was now the 
important question, as it had to be determined with refer- 
ence to several conditions. If to be under the care and 
carried on by the Alexander Church, it should be as 
near as possible. The territory of the church was very 
limited, not only by the close proximity of five other 
Presbvterian churches, but by a Congregational church 
also, on the opposite corner of the square, which in 
Philadelphia draws nearly all its support from Presby- 
terians. There was but one outlet, and this was north- 
ward. The ground was diligently traversed by Pastor 
and Elders, by moonlight and daylight. The Pastor 
and Elder Thissell explored every available place one 
night until midnight. The vonng men soon caught the 
spirit of the Session, and evinced the greatest enthusiasm 
in the search, especially among those who had main- 
tained a most interesting prayer-meeting for more than 
two years. The Presbytery was made acquainted with 
this purpose, and location and permission to build by 
their authority was asked ; but the mention of it devel- 
oped antagonism. A judicious committee was appoint- 
ed to determine the locality, which soon reported in 
favor of Eighteenth Street and Montgomery Avenue, 
or as near it as ground could be secured. There was 
sufficient reason for care in the location of new churches 

in the position into which the union of the two branches 

43 



44 MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



of the Church had brought us. In the days of their 
controversies churches had been located, if not to thwart 
each other, certainly without regard to each other's 
future, and without the least indication that they would 
ever be united ; so at the union we found many of our 
churches crowded together in destructive nearness. As a 
result, some became extinct, some have been wronged, 
and it were better if others were extinct also. The Pres- 
bytery had come to an understanding that new churches 
should not be located nearer each other than five squares. 
The locality determined upon by the committee was 
about half a square short of the one located at Twenty- 
first and Columbia Avenue. It is but just to the Ses- 
sion to say that they desired it a square further north, 
but a street railway depot barred the one side, and a 
disagreement between two landholders regarding the 
squaring of a triangular lot prevented a choice of the 
other corner. So the question resolved itself into going 
where the committee of Presbytery recommended, or to 
abandon the effort altogether, for there was no other 
locality where a mission of the Alexander Church could 
be cared for. Considerable opposition manifested itself 
in the Presbytery, but it was harmonized by the w r eight 
and judgment of the committee, and the admirable 
speech and management of Dr. Ruel Stewart, a member 
of the Session. The report of the committee was almost, 
if not entirely, unanimous, and another important ad- 
vance in the unfolding of God's purpose, as it seemed, 
was taken. 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



45 



The locality selected by the Presbytery was a brick- 
yard, covered with sheds and kilns, which was purchased 
at $14,500, the seller making a donation of 8500. 
Thirty-five hundred dollars was paid by the Pastor and 

a member of the Alexander Church, named , 

who professed great interest in the undertaking, and a 
mortgage assumed of 811,000, the title beino; in the 
Pastor's name. The half now occupied by the church 
was placed at the value of §7000, and a mortgage ex- 
ecuted representing this sum was placed on record and 
held so as to have it a subsisting lien ahead of all other 
encumbrances or liens which might attach during the 
erection of the church building, the other half being held 

by the Pastor and , with the understanding that 

any value it might gain should accrue to the benefit of the 
church. A declaratory deed was executed to the Ses- 
sion of the Alexander Church, drawn by the late Elder 
MeElroy, one of the most eminent attorneys in the City 
of Philadelphia. The title to the church lot was as- 
signed to the Pastor, and the mortgage, representing the 
purchase-money of the church part — seven thousand 

dollars — to , in the conviction that his professed 

interest in the work would make it safe; but he con- 
verted it to his own use, raid set up a fraudulent claim 
that it was his own — that in a private transaction it 
had been given him in settlement — which led to a tor- 
menting equity suit, lasting more than a year, in which 
the church owes an obligation beyond money to Judge 
Porter, District- Attorney Graham, and Attorney Roberts, 



46 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



who labored to brino: the suit to a closo without other 
compensation than convictions of duty in a cause that 
was suffering wrong. After all the time and expense, 
it was found advisable to effect a compromise, the 
defendant being insolvent, and unwilling and unable to 
re-imburse the person into whose hands he had given the 
mortgage as a collateral. The possible delay and the 
fixed purpose of the defendant to continue his unjustifi- 
able contest, and the interference of this outstanding 
claim with the progress of the work and the securing of 
contributions, forced a compromise. It was finally set- 
tled by the attorneys at a heavy loss to the Pastor — 
between two and four thousand dollars. This compli- 
cation ended years after the beginning of the work, 
and has been recorded here as one of the many obsta- 
cles that were surmounted. 

Immediately after the deeds were executed, it was 
determined that the work should be undertaken by 
building a w T ooden chapel. In the old Thirteenth 
Street Railroad depot, which had been the place of the 
Moody and Sankey meetings, were offered at auction 
the flooring of the entire building, of new white-pine 
boards, and about eleven thousand chairs. Gaining 
access before the sale, measurements were made of a 
section between pillars, by which an average by feet of 
value was made. Other bidders were generally in the 
dark about the quantity, which appeared less than it 
really was. The section measured contained over eleven 
thousand feet of lumber, for all practical purposes as good 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



47 



as new. This was purchased, and five hundred chairs at 
twenty-five cents each. This was the first financial step 
in the w r ork. The lumber was taken to the ground and 
the chairs to the cellar of the Alexander Church, and the 
first service rendered in this work was by the " praying 
band" of young men. The chairs had never been 
painted. They begged and bought the paint, and in 
the night painted all of them, making them ready for 
use before the place was ready for them. This zeal of 
the company of young Christians struck the key-note 
of nearly two years' unparalleled success. Some of 
them dropped out as laggards in the Christian work, 
but most of them have been noble workers ever since. 
Some have wrought with us since 1876, and are still 
our strength and hope, and some have " fallen asleep." 

In order to make place for the proposed wooden 
building, the former lessees, who had a brick-yard on 
the ground purchased, were in great distress, for they 
were poor men, and their all was there, and it was too 
late in the spring to fit up a new yard, and if they gave 
this up it seemed like falling into starvation outright. 
They plead for the undisturbed use of the ground for 
the year, offering a good rent. One of them was a 
Protestant, the other a Papist — an Irishman — but they 
were ready and willing men, and it was hard to dis- 
possess them. One night the thought came, as in a 
dream, that the first step in such an effort for the poor 
ought not to be taken in the oppression of the poor, even 
if it were just and equitable, and a voice seemed to say, 



48 MITES A GAINST MILL IONS. 



" There is room; yet there is room." Next morning, 
at seven o'clock, being on the ground, and the troubled 
men also, one of them said, " I have been thinking how 
we can get over the difficulty. We will tear down the 
corner kiln, to 'make room, and if you will permit us to 
use the rest we will not burn brick on Sunday, and 
will put everything in order on Saturday night, and 
will watch the chapel, that the boys may not break the 
glass." The last service was never needed, for the 
glass was never broken ; the boys, from the beginning, 
claimed it as their own, as did the entire community, 
watching over it and the material for construction until 
this time, so that scarcely ten dollars' worth of material 
was stolen in five years. The brick-makers were per- 
mitted to stay for two summers without rent, and this 
generosity out of our own poverty was more than repaid, 
as later one of the most eventful chapters of this history 
will show. The kiln was immediately removed, and a 
space of thirty by seventy-six feet cleared for occupancy. 
That day a young man came to the study, representing 
that he had been awakened from a thoughtless life in 
the Moody meetings ; that he was a child of Presby- 
terian parents in Ireland, and had been baptized by Dr. 
John Hall, of New York City. He represented that 
he had been without food all day, and wanted work as 
carpenter. As providences were looked for as the only 
way out of a desperate undertaking in building a church 
from four dollars and forty-one cents, he was em- 
ployed, and he rendered some good service, although 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



49 



his subsequent conduct indicated that Satan had man- 
aged that providence. He brought two others, who were 
being supported by the liberality of Mr. William Shoe- 
maker, who had built a house and fed six or eight of 
his kind, whose chief recommendation to his charity was 
that they were out of everything except their ability to 
tell of their wondrous conversions at the Moody meet- 
ings, the only fact in their existence worthy of record, as 
they were all great frauds, and most of them thieves; 
so the surroundings of the Cross were again brought in- 
to painful observation. 

The great hinderances in the work were want of faith 
and want of money, terrific storms which raged almost 
nightly, and too much advice. The Prince of the power 
of the air seemed set against it from the first, sweeping 
down the frail structure at most unexpected times. 
What had been lifted up in the day would frequently 
be demolished at night. 

At one o'clock one morning, a storm was heard howl- 
ing, bent on mischief. The chapel was about half 
boarded in, and the first thought was for it. So, rising, 
and walking about a mile alone through the storm, the 
Pastor found the structure hanging, as it seemed, by a 
nail, and the work of weeks on the brink of ruin. 
A prop was put under, at great personal peril, in time 
to save it from utter collapse; and the hours of the night 
were spent in making it secure against further danger. 

Hinderances of almost every kind beset the progress 
of the work almost to its completion. 
4 



50 MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



There were a marvelous number of wiseacres, proph- 
ets of evil, people who would make untiring efforts to 
convince one that he was a fool; instant in season and 
out of season, with the faithfulness of "Insurance 
Agents." These spent every leisure moment in deliv- 
ering their oracles, and, failing to move the head, they 
would beset the workmen, persuading them to do the 
very things they were forbidden to do. The veritable 
modern representatives of Sanballat and his crowd, who 
discouraged the hearts of the people, saying that if a fox 
trot over the newly repaired walls they would fall. 
There was not a board from foundation to roof which 
they esteemed fit for its place. The very ground it- 
self was condemned by these prophets of evil, the 
plans and purposes throughout pronounced imprac- 
ticable. Tailors, shoe-makers, quack doctors, white- 
washers, women, and querulous men, all so well fitted 
by nature and profession, advised, warned, and prognos- 
ticated until the life of the projector was often a burden. 
But these were not the only people who passed by. 
Friends came, who had but heard of the daring under- 
taking, who loved to think of audacious efforts for Christ, 
and would give words of cheer and a five or ten dollar 
bill to back them up. Such a friend came by one day 
when the work was at a stand-still for lumber, and, find- 
ing the cause, sent a load to our relief. 

The " World's people" always took an interest in the 
work, and have a large representation in this cause. 
An old, hard-faced, weather-beaten sailor came by one 



MITES A GA/NST MILLIONS. 



51 



day and said, " Mister, be you going to float out a ship 
from this brick-yard?" Being informed of the nature 
of our operations, he said, pointing to the remaining 
brick-kiln, "That is a good accompaniment to a 6 hell 
fire' church. I am orthodox, born orthodox, but a dev- 
ilish poor Christian ; but that little gaPs givin' that 
money kinder touches this old bosom. I had a blessed 
little tot myself that sailed out from us to the other 
side, and for her sake I will give you the last ' saw- 
buck 9 (ten-dollar bill) I have. I have enough left to 
get my grog to-night, and we go out to-morrow. You 
are welcome to it, and if I ever get back to these shores 
again, I will sail in to see how you are making the 
trip." The wooden shanty was known as the Free 
Collegiate Chapel, and was the wonder of the neighbor- 
hood. News of it spread throughout city and country. 
It was one of the marvels of the Centennial to many 
who had heard the story of the bequest. The secular 
papers spoke of it often and kindly, and when complete 
it was about the best advertised venture in the city. The 
furniture was put in about four o'clock in the morning of 
the last Sabbath of May, 1876. Several young men of the 
Alexander Church had wrought with their hands, dug 
and shoveled, carried timber, driven nails, glazed the 
windows, painted the walls, and when finished, scrubbed 
the floor, and put down the matting. The chairs they 
had painted were put in and such other furniture as 
they could get, and several of them worked all through 
Saturday night and Sabbath morning, that it might be 



52 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



ready for the opening according to advertisement* 
After this, several of them spent the intervening time 
until the opening in visiting the families in the neighbor- 
hood, inviting them and their children to the services. 

The enterprise was an experiment. No one knew 
that any one outside of those interested would come, but 
on the Sabbath afternoon of the opening fifty scholars 
were present ; and at the preaching service, immediately 
after, the house, seventy-six feet by thirty feet, in which 
were nearly five hundred chairs, was full of people from 
all parts of the city. The first words of praise uttered 
were " All hail the power of Jesus name," and the first 
sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. March, now of 
Woburn, near Boston. Rev. W. P. White assisted. 
And from this day until the organization ol the ehurcn, 
nearly four years after, a church service was maintained 
at four o'clock every Sabbath, immediately after the 
Sabbath-school, to which nearly all the scholars and 
teachers remained. To aid in keeping the scholars to 
this service, Sabbath-school books were not given out 
until after church. The service was religiously kept 
within an hour, and a choir of the scholars was formed 
and taught by one of the young men, a teacher in the 
school. It became one of the standing attractions to 
many to hear not only the choir but the whole school 
sing. There is a weakness in our Sabbath-school sys- 
tem in divorcing the Sabbath -school from the Church, 
which these devices remedied, and unless the present 
arrangement is changed throughout the Church it will 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



53 



die in the embrace of its own children. The hours of 
Sabbath-school are so arranged that most pastors never 
preach any more to the young. Scholars know more 
about everybody else in many churches than the pastor. 
They hear no more preaching. Parents give them over 
to their Sabbath-school instruction. The superintendent 
becomes their pastor, and perhaps some silly young 
man or woman, who never looks at the lesson until he or 
she audaciously takes up the Bible, gives them all the in- 
struction they ever get. No wonder we have to record 
fruitless years in the Church and mourn the worldliness 
and indifference of the young. They have neither home 
nor pastoral instruction; and the Sabbath- school, the 
nursery of the Church, is the ruling power. The 
Church is about in the condition of a family over which 
the youngsters rule. Experience has convinced us 
that never has pastoral work been more indispensable 
or useful, and the Church in the house is more than ever 
the form in which Christianity in this country must 
maintain itself. The newspaper and other agencies 
have encroached upon the pulpit, but nothing but 
neglect hinders Christ in the home. 

Faithfulness and gratitude require us to say that many 
of the members of the Alexander Church, male and 
female, wrought to the completion of this work. The 
Session loved it, worked and prayed for it, and these 
were the best days the mother-church ever saw when 
she was returning gratitude to God in laying the founda- 
tion of a church to the glory of His name, and it was 



54 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



with joy that her members used to pray for our chapel 
and their sons and daughters working in it. 

We think it will be interesting to our readers, as well 
as an act of simple justice to the first toilers, to say a 
word about them and the service they performed. 
Henry Lambirth became acting superintendent, and held 
the position for about five years, and rendered valuable 
service to both the school and the congregation, which 
gathered to the afternoon preaching from the beginning. 

Charles Thissell was one of the young men who 
wrought with head, heart, and hands, one of those who 
pulled and tacked at the matting the Saturday night 
and Sabbath morning before the dedication. He was 
one of the factors in the beginning. He became superin- 
tendent of the infant school, assisted at first by the wife 
of the present acting superintendent and Deacon in the 
Memorial Church, Mr. Yerkes, and afterwards by Miss 
Lucy Cooper. They were faithful to duty, earnest, 
patient, and prayerful, and the school grew with en- 
couraging proportions from the day of its opening; and 
what is more to their credit, they had but little of means 
or comfort to work on, and never was a school of such 
proportions carried on with so little money. But Mr. 
Thissell was skillful in the use of tools, and not afraid 
of work, and what he could not bay he made, and this 
tells the story of his success. 

In the first months of the history of this work, a 
tall, dark-visaged man, delicate in appearance, but 
with an earnest manner and winning face, might have 



MITES AGA1XST MILLIONS. 



55 



been seen going from house to house asking for Sab- 
bath-sehool scholars ; and by this interest in the chil- 
dren, working his way into families to instruct parents, 
exhorting them to the duties childhood demands and 
parentage enjoins. He had wonderful success in win- 
ning whole households to himself, as the man of God. 
He gathered children into this wooden box, which 
was, out of respect to the cause, called a chapel. He 
would stand on the street in front and hail the passing 
crowd, begging them to come in; and multitudes who 
never entered any church could find no words of re- 
fusal, and would be led in, receive a seat and hymn- 
book, and then he would go out after more. His motto 
was that of a Latin father shouted out in dream, " O 
Lord, yet more, yet more;" Through the week he 
went through the streets and alleyways, reading the 
Word to those who would hear, shaking the little hands 
of the children, whom he never forgot or misnamed, 
until Deacon McLean became a household word. The 
sick longed for his coming; the thoughtless waited for 
him, for it never offended them when he spoke to them 
upon the subject of religion. He was to many the only 
link between them and the Church, They believed in 
him, loved and followed him. This church is indebted 
to this man as the representative of Christ's mission — 
"The poor have the Gospel preached to them." He wore 
away his precious life, but his soul grew brighter and his 
love for dying men more intense as the night approached 
when he should lay his armor down. All through 1876 



56 MITES A GAINST Mill IONS. 



he wrought with unconquerable zeal, as if running 
before the coming shadows of death. During the suc- 
ceeding winter he was forced to give up the work he 
had pursued with such Christlike energy. Finding his 
strength wasting, he struggled manfully for the oppor- 
tunities of years already spent. In , spite of physicians 
and loving care, the inevitable crept daily nearer. He 
and his devoted wife left the city, giving up their home, 
and started in search of the lost treasure of health, but 
it was like the flight of the smitten deer with the arrow 
pierced through its heart, hunting a better place to die. 

In a water cure in northern New York, for a whole 
year it was alternation of hope and despair. He fought 
against death with the courage of the dying gladiator, 
not because he feared what it would bring him into, but 
because he wished to leave his work well done. 

After spending some time in Rochester, they went to 
the Hot Springs, Arkansas, and for some months he 
kept up the unequal contest. As death gained the mas- 
tery over the outward man, his soul grew stronger in 
resignation, and heaven was coming sensibly nearer. 
He began to anticipate it, and to talk of it, as one ex- 
pecting soon to emigrate to a distant shore to better his 
fortunes consults his map and asks of all who can make 
it more real by experience. 

From here they went to the far north — to Minneapo- 
lis. Among strangers he did not remain unknown. 
Christian people came to cheer, and when they could no 
longer mitigate, to look on in amazement at the battle 



MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 57 



between death and the remnant of life. As one said, 
he was a marvel to all who witnessed. He lived in the 
atmosphere of prayer, and no struggle for breath sub- 
dued his spirit-life; and when his pursuer stood wait- 
ing to strike the last blow, and the physician said 
it might be days or hours, Jie said, "It is well. Per- 
haps I have glorified my Master better in my suffering 
than in my life." 

A very short time before his last conflict, two of the 
Elders of the Westminster Church, Minneapolis — 
Messrs. Miller and Monroe — were in his presence, from 
which they went to the meeting of prayer in the church, 
where they told the people how near they had been to 
heaven, for they had followed this already glorified 
worker to its portals ; and one said, " If I could hope 
to have such a presence of the Master in my last hours, 
it would brighten all my coming life." In these last 
struggles of heart and flesh he said, " I am not going out 
into the dark. It is all light;" and then, lifting his 
weary eyes heavemvard, they remained fixed, and his 
soul went home sweetly as music goes from the throb- 
bing string. 

In February, 1877, there was a remarkable revival 
in this lonely shanty between two brickyards and over a 
cellar. Men and women did not care for mud or snow; 
saint and sinner alike crowded into this place, unattrac- 
tive in every other respect except that the spirit of God 
was there. It became in that revival sacred in the eyes 
of the community, and everybody watched over it and 



58 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



cared for it. If a storm came, people would walk 
around to see if any damage had been done to it. The 
boys, who were ready to destroy everything else that could 
be pulled apart, rarely injured this. It was sacred to 
God; no place was ever so dedicated in the reverence of 
community. People came from all over the city, so 
that in the congregations were those who worshiped in 
churches costing hundreds of thousands, but in this 
place was God present. The weekly prayer-meeting on 
Friday night, from the first, was a meeting that con- 
ducted itself. Informal, while there was a nominal 
leader, any who wished could give out a hymn or pray 
as the spirit moved. The meetings were wonderful in 
life and power; there was the best talking and praying 
to which we have ever listened. It did not make the 
slightest difference whether the Pastor was present or 
not; every duty was done, and all went on without delay 
or friction. The Spirit of God was the recognized 
leader in all. The young men would quote passages of 
Scripture, or read them, and say a few words, often under 
a stress that would manifest itself in their restrained 
breathing, that could be heard throughout the house. 
Sometimes they would fail in their efforts to speak or 
pray, and sit down in tears, and another would take up 
the unfinished prayers and finish them. At the close 
of the services the older members would find the dis- 
couraged ones and give them a word of cheer, and at 
the next meeting they would try it again ; thus, through 
struggle and failure, they are now men of power. Most 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



59 



of them can lead a meeting to edification, can pray ac- 
ceptably, and not a few can make addresses that would 
be appreciated before any audience. 

Many of these young men have now entered into the 
advanced services of the Church as Deacons, and can 
comfort the poor and afflicted, and preach as well. They 
conduct meetings wherever there seems to be an oppor- 
tunity for doing good. The Pastor believes that the 
Deacon in the New Testament w r as not only an almoner, 
but a preacher, the ordained evangelist to prepare the 
way for the preaching elder, as Philip did for the 
apostles. With this conception of his duty, he has so 
charged them in their ordination and installation, and 
has in his Diaconate had fruits corresponding. Many 
more of the young men and women, who learned to 
work in the infancy of this effort, are now teachers in 
the Sabbath-school, doing missionary work in the neigh- 
borhood. 

They have been known to scatter in a night five 
thousand notices of services and invitations, handing 
one in at each door. Two of these young men are act- 
ing superintendents in the Sabbath-school, and another 
is now preparing to open a morning Sabbath-schooL 
One of the suggestions of the Pastor which seems to 
have contributed to efficiency in bringing forward the 
young men, was insisting that the older men should not 
pray longer than two minutes, to encourage the young 
ones to try it. First, asking them to pray one minute, 
and before calling for volunteers, two were asked to 



60 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



pray, one to follow the other. They were told what to 
pray for, thinking they could hold out a minute, espe- 
cially as each had the subject suggested. They were 
thus in the beginning fed as an old bird feeds her young, 
until they could rest on their own strength. A com- 
pany of young men will become the counterpart of the 
pastor or leader ; he will hear his own thoughts ; his 
very spiritual life will be reproduced, if he have any, all 
unconsciously to those who do it. It is wrought by the 
power of assimulation ; no eye sees the process, but the 
result is apparent to all. 

In October of the year 1877, our skies were overcast. 
The shadows of its calamities still lie across our history. 
A terrific storm arose one evening. It was appalling. 
The elements were in a rage against life. Tornadoes ran 
away with the fountains of the heavens, and dashed 
them against all that stood in their way. Trees were up- 
rooted, houses blown down, churches unroofed, bridges 
undermined and carried away, railroad tracks lifted 
from their beds. Death rode on the wings of the wind. 
All through the hours of this dreadful night moanings, 
as of the dying, were heard, and hearts stood aghast for 
the tempest-tossed on land and sea. Our friend and 
benefactor, Vm. J. McElroy, Esq., perished that night, 
a loved Elder in the Alexander Church, known all 
over the city for his great abilities and integrity as a 
lawyer, and as a Christian who walked with God, whose 
cause ever lay as the nearest thought to his heart. He 
went beyond the cognizance of sense, to where memory 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 61 



and hope can alone be the mediums through which we 
should know him until the Resurrection morn. 

On his way home from Stroudsburgh, w T here he had 
gone on professional business, as the train that bore him 
was crossing the culvert over Mill Creek on the Belvi- 
dere branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the flood 
had torn it away, and the car in which he was was 
swept into the stream, and he, with several others, 
were lost, their bodies not being found for days. It 
was a heavy stroke. He was mourned by all who loved 
this infant mission, for his presence inspired hope, and 
all knew he had cast his life into its service. He was 
one of those who could do well whatever was to be done 
about a church. He was a scholar in both the law and 
Gospel, was a most impressive and winsome talker, ripe 
in religious truth and its personal experiences; and 
when occasion called, no more popular preacher ever 
addressed the people, who loved him for his words, 
spirit, hopes, and work. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



It is an interesting part of the history of this work, 
that God brought into it all the talent of every kind 
needed. The accompanying sketch was drawn by a young 
artist from England, who wandered into the chapel, 
weary, lonely, and oppressed by grief; having met with 
reverses, he had left his home in England, parting from 
wife and little ones until fortune should favor him in 
the New World. Fortune was his patron then, but 
within this humble chapel he found a better word by 
which to describe the help he needed. He no longer 
says fortune, but Providence, for this house was the birth- 
place of his soul. He is now a teacher in the Sabbath- 
school, and joins with the saints of God's house in thanks- 
givings. 

The chapel was carried on as a second place of worship 
for the Alexander Church, though the support came 
almost entirely from those who worshiped and wrought 
in the mission. It has been from the first the most re- 
markable example of unstinted liberality, according to its 
means, that we have ever known. The members contrib- 
uted ; the school not only supported itself, but contributed 
every year after the permanent building began to the 
building fund, until the Sabbath-school alone gave to 
the building fund one thousand dollars in one year. 
We have not known a regular worshiper in the years of 
its existence who has not contributed, in our judgment, 
62 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS, 



63 



up to his ability — what we can say of no other church 
in our pastoral experience. The members received here 
on profession became members of the Alexander Church, 
and were for three years among the most regular in 
attendance and in contributions to that church. The 
services in the chapel were prayer-meetings on Friday 
nights, entirely conducted by the male members of the 
congregation, the Pastor taking part if he chose. This 
was necessary in the fact of their being a dependency, 
that they should early learn to take care of themselves: 
and as a result, for five years no prayer-meeting has ever 
failed for lack of one to lead, or for a sufficient number 
to speak or pray to make it interesting ; and there never 
were any lean prayer-meetings, not even in dog-days. 
There have never been any vacations, either in Sabbath- 
school or church. If a minister should fail then, there 
are men who could take the pulpit and conduct a service 
acceptably to the large congregation. This has largely 
been attained by this necessity of reliance, for the Pastor 
had to attend to his duties in the mother-church, and 
this was in a sense a step-child. For four years the 
Pastor preached three times every Sabbath to keep this 
growing church alive and onward in its activities, but 
the best reason for its progress was the abiding presence 
of the Spirit of God, the great life-giver and teacher. 
Literally from the mouths of babes He perfected praise. 
There were young lads in this mission, twelve and fifteen 
years old, who, when there was need for it, could rise 
reverently and lead the congregation acceptably in prayer; 



84 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



and it was a habit for the male scholars of the Sabbath- 
school to read or recite verses from memory on the sub- 
ject in consideration in the Friday night meetings. In 
this they had the best of example and encouragement in 
the Session of the church. The lamented Elder McElroy 
frequently occupied the pulpit in the afternoon, and 
could preach as but few in the ministry. He was in- 
structive and tender, and loved the place and cause. It 
was the last thing he talked about before he left his 
home to meet his tragic death. Other members of the 
Session performed the same offices. Two of the Elders 
— Wallace and Dickson — entered the school as teachers, 
and rendered blessed service. Elder Wallace is now a 
member of the Session of the new organization. 

The young people took classes, solicited funds, and 
did the work of self-denying missionaries for love's sake. 
Some of them have gone to their reward, others abide in 
official positions, and some are working in other fields. 
Among the first marked features of .spiritual progress 
were our adult Bible classes. From the beginning 
they were attractive to both young and old; hence a 
Bible class would range in ages from eighteen to seventy. 
This was much the result of good teaching. The first 
class formed was under the care of Mr. Thomas 
Dickson, who taught for Christ; and while he instructed 
the head, he won the heart. This class numbered fifty 
or sixty members. The fruits of not more than two 
years' teaching have entered, by conversion and assimu- 
lation, into the very heart of the church. He taught 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 65 



that Christ and His Church were the Alpha and Omega 
of a teacher's work; and God's blessing was the amen 
of heaven on the Divine conception and execution. The 
next in order of time was one of the strange Providences 
that direct us we know not whither, but by the unfold- 
in gs of our change we learn the meaning of these seem- 
ing; enigmas of life. 

A member of an old down-town church was passing 
with his little son along the street, hardly knowing why, 
except to observe the progress of a neighborhood near 
to which he had become a resident; hearing singing in 
this strange wooden building, he stopped in, with no 
thought more than of respectful curiosity. He had been 
a teacher for years, until the disbanding of his church. 
He sat down in a class, which had just been formed, 
with a temporary teacher, little thinking of what a life 
God had marked out before him, and that in that 
humble place he was to become the teacher of that 
class, which was to grow into a congregation of middle- 
aged and aged people, and that through years he was 
to lead them heavenward by the teachings of God's 
AVord and Spirit, and to become a Ruling Elder in 
a church of which this was the doubtful beginning. 
This class has been like the one spoken of— a harvest- 
field for Christ. A multitude has come out of it into 
the profession of faith and the activities of useful Chris- 
tian life. Some of the first fruits of Elder Ringgold's 
teaching have been already garnered. 

The history of this Church would not be complete, 



66 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



without a word about the older men and women, lead- 
ing and giving color to the convictions of the young 
who are now entering their manhood and womanhood. 
There was nothing to tempt these into this wooden 
building but Christ and His yoke and work. Three of 
the most active Elders of the Alexander Church took 
up the work at the beginning. One has gone to his rest 
and reward ; one is in St. Paul, Minnesota, and an- 
other in the foremost rank in every good work of the 
present Session. Two of the Deacons — McLean and 
Shaw — also of the Alexander Church, were with us, 
one at the beginning and the other soon after, choice 
men, whose hearts and prayers and labors have added 
strength to its daily conflicts and victories. Supple- 
mental in character was a company of devout women, 
who w T ere never so happy as when tired for this mission. 
We had no dead trees in this nursery. They were men 
and women of strong convictions, the stronger the better, 
if they be on the right side. They were not of the 
class of dry-eyed Christians, who may be of some 
service in the old churches where Christ and His relig- 
ion is one huge propriety. Such can do little in the 
formation of a new Church. These tender-hearted lead- 
ers drew the young around them, and won them both 
by teaching and sympathies. 

The revival of religion referred to at the beginning 
of this Chapter gave us an impulse by which we are 
impelled to this day. It can be seen everywhere around ; 
even the walls of the building proclaim it. It shaped 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



our destinies and gave direction to them, created a young 
heart, from which all that has gone into this history has 
been the pulsation. Over forty persons, young and old, 
made profession of faith in the Alexander Church, and 
became a part of that church, with two places of wor- 
ship ; and from this fact the new place was called " Col- 
legiate/' Our spring was full of life and sunshine. 
But this only brought us into other trials. AVe learned 
that we could have no existence in repose. That like 
"poor Jo," life was to be an everlasting " moving on," 
and a choice between rest and activity was the alternate 
between life and death. The Pastor had rested in the 
contented conviction that after the wooden building was 
up and paid for, that he was done with the little devisor 
in heaven, and that he had fulfilled all obligations, and 
all that remained of duty was to keep up this dependency 
on the Alexander Church. But God began very soon 
the revelation that he was not done with the obligation 
to build a church, and that God, the Attorney for this 
ward in glory, would not receive a wooden shanty in 
lieu of a church. It was strange what inspired her to 
say "a church/' instead of a mission, as strange that 
the trustee should never think that a shanty was not a 
church. Every movement now set in this direction. 
It became as audible as God's reminder to Jacob, " Arise 
and go up to Bethel and build there an altar unto God." 

The house became daily too straightened, and we 
could not grow or even hold our own very long. People 
will go into a cheap building and endure its discom- 



68 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



forts for a time while the disk of hope widens, but 
there must be progress or they will leave; they did not 
give themselves to a life of this kind of privation, but 
to an experiment leading to better things ; and if any 
lasting good is to be gained, there must be advance. 
But in our case it was to run against a seeming impossi- 
bility. How could a church be built when the ground 
on which the building was to be located w r as not paid 
for. There was no wealth, no strong ally, to help. 
It was a zealous band in a temporary building on one 
corner of a brickyard. Besides, these were the dull, 
leaden days of our financial crises, and half the churches 
in the city had been compelled to reduce salaries and 
expenses, and many could not then make ends meet. 
The unsolved dilemma of God's will and man's ability 
woo a torment, and continued to be, until the problem 
was thus reversed, " God's will and ability are practi- 
cally the same." 



CHAPTER IX. 



Progress or death were the only words legible 
of our future, and the summer months gave no indica- 
tion of which it would be. All was waiting for us to 
move on ; God's method was to reveal itself in our mo- 
tion. We had nothing but the four dollars and forty- 
one cents, but this had been sufficient to help us over the 
necessities of the first building; why should it not over 
the second ? In the perplexity a trifling event, already 
referred to, determined that progress should mark our 
course. God not only works in mysterious ways, but by 
my s t er i o us instruments. 

The Pastor stopped one morning in the brickyard to 
see the proprietors about some little injury done to the 
chapel, as to how it was done and by whom, and this 
led to a conversation about our prospects. They were 
hard-working, poor men, one a Protestant, but not a pro- 
fessing Christian, and the other a Catholic. In the 
conversation the perplexities of our position were spoken 
of, and the men showed a surprising interest. They said : 
" You treated us like a Christian when you purchased 
the ground, permitting us to stay the second season when 
you could have driven us away ; while we are poor, we 
want to do something to show our appreciation of this 
kindness. If you will mark out the size you will have 
your Church, we will dig the cellar. We can use much 
of the clay in making brick." This was the first gray 



70 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



dawn on the night that had hung so darkly between us 
and hope. The ground was surveyed, and the work 
proceeded according to promise, without money and with- 
out price. But this only brought us into another 
dilemma. Of what possible service could a hole in the 
ground 87 x 100 feet be toward the realization of a 
Church; but having ventured, there was no place to 
turn back without faltering in duty and personal dis- 
honor. A contract was made to lay the stone in the 
cellar as fast as we could procure it and pay for the 
work. The only hope was in having both materials and 
money donated, for the congregation could do no more 
than pay the expenses incident to carrying on the mis- 
sion. 

But nobody had any confidence in so desperate an 
undertaking. The first stone was bought, and the next 
w r as donated by a man much denounced by politicians as 
a fraud ; but we learned that political frauds, according to 
party standards, are often very good men. His generosity 
to us in those trying times has made us less disposed to 
measure men by political clamor. Another politician 
contributed a few cart loads to the cellar ; and day by day 
one and two men wrought, backing up the banks of the 
hole in the ground to keep them from caving in ; and how 
this was paid for we cannot now recall. It was at the 
beginning of the summer vacation; only a small amount 
of work had been done, and it was a question whether 
the stone layers would not have to stop during the 
Pastor's absence. But he carried the little box and its 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



71 



cause with him, and wherever he preached he con- 
trived to get the box, its giver and purpose in as inci- 
dentally as possible by way of illustration. During 
this vacation he began to realize the pathos of the story 
and its power over the hearts of men. A few years 
before, while at Saratoga, he had filled an appointment 
at Kingsboro for a ministerial Brother who was pre- 
vented by illness from keeping his engagement. There 
was not a person in either of the little cities of Kings- 
boro, Gloversville, or Johnstown whom he had ever seen 
or heard of before. The journey was a lonely one, 
and he regretted his consent to Rev. Crocker, to whom 
the promise had been made. But he was so hospitably 
entertained at the home of Hon. D. B. Judson, that it 
soon took all the regrets of the unpropitious journey 
away. How little we know the significance for life's 
unpleasant tilings. This was opening the way three years 
before for help in the great undertaking into which Prov- 
idence had driven us. He preached in the morning for the 
Presbyterian Church at Kingsboro, and for the Con- 
gregational Church in Gloversville at night, to large 
congregations of a people whose religious convictions 
had been shaped into the mould of a noble benevolence 
by that noted Pastor, Dr. Yale, whose name is spoken 
of with reverent lips until this day. The mutual im- 
pressions were so favorable that never but once since 
i v 72 has the summer vacation passed without a return 
to this beautiful valley, preaching alternately for the 
Presbyterians of Kingsboro and the Congregationalists 



72 MITES A GAINST MIILIONS. 



and Presbyterians in Gloversville and Johnstown. It 
is a time when the Pastors are generally away, and by 
their consent he became a kind of vacation Bishop to 
the three cities, preaching to great congregations often 
combined at one of the churches. 

The first public effort in behalf of this undertaking was 
made in Kingsboro. After preaching, the story of the gift 
was told; the treasure was shown, and to our surprise it 
broke the hearts of the people. Young and old, thought- 
ful and thoughtless, were alike in tears. They emptied 
their pockets, and went home for more. They gave all 
they could, and wished they could give it all. The 
poor gave a pittance of their poverty, saying : " None 
of us are poorer than she who gave her all." Little 
children came, too, with their offerings ; for it had taken 
hold on their hearts. The gathering amounted to about 
one hundred dollars, and Elder Judson and family 
largely increased the amount. 

The news reached Gloversville, and invitations came 
from the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, 
asking to hear of the little girl and her treasure and 
bequest, that they might give, too. The first answer was 
in the Congregational Church, a church noble in all the 
elements of Christian life and its beneficent results. 
The house was crowded to overflowing, up-stairS and 
down. The congregation at Kingsboro, who had heard 
it in the morning, were there at night, and heard, and 
wept, and gave again. The impression it produced was, if 
anything, deeper than in the Presbyterian Church, and 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 73 



their gifts were large-hearted and large-minded. The 
Sabbath-school insisted on giving its part, and the 
large-hearted superintendent brought up the amount 
from his own generosity. This amount given by these 
churches was forwarded, and the w r ork w r ent on to the 
surprise and delight of all. The next presentation of 
the subject was in Saratoga, in the First Presbyterian 
Church. It was simply used as an illustration, and not 
the occasion of a sermon. Experience proves that direct 
appeals are always distasteful to many, and cause men 
to harden themselves from the beginning. Surprises 
open hearts and pockets. Men love to be led into events 
that lay hold on their affections. Money was never 
asked for directly; the purpose was always kept in the 
background, but the pathos and unselfishness of the 
act made prominent rather incidentally and for the 
purpose of illustration of some truth in the sermon. 
This congregation of men and women, Christians and 
world's people, pleasure-seekers and livers to pleasure, 
alike were deeply affected, for the human heart is much 
the same, and the difference is, that people of the 
world give more impulsively and quickly than Chris- 
tians, if they are reached indirectly, hiding the main 
purpose, which is ever to be an effect of emotion crea- 
ted by the sublimity of the deed itself. Such give 
liberally. They hunted for the man from one hotel to 
another, who told about the little girl and her box. 

If we dared give names and character, the Christian 
world would be surprised at the offerings from men and 



74 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



women who have no ostensible interest in religion, who 
have their gifts and tears in this church, and who still 
seek to know of its success. 

The people of the world, as they are called, are not 
altogether to blame for indifference to the needs of 
Christ's cause, They all have a general interest in it; 
some dear one has hands on the horns of the altar, and 
they cling to their vestments. But Christian people 
too easily take it for granted that to be out of the Church 
is the same as to be out of all sympathy with it, which is a 
mischievous mistake, a damage to those whom we would 
win to Christ and to Christ's cause ; our commission 
is not only, " Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel," but go ye into all the world for the support of 
the Gospel preached. Giving is a means of grace; it is 
prayer unto God from the unsay ed, and a kind of pray- 
ing that God does not spurn, as we are told about Cor- 
nelius. Prayers and alms are inseparable, coming up 
before God, and often a worldly man's gifts are the 
initiatory steps into the kingdom of God ; if delicately 
done, it is the easiest way of approaching a man of the 
world, ever more ready to give his money than his 
heart. We do not believe that the young nobleman 
who came running to Christ was half so much tried by 
the conditions to "sell all" as by the " follow me." 

It is ever easier to get money than hearts, but solicit- 
ing help is an admirable way into men's confidence 
and to get them to tell the story of their lives. 
Don't ask for it, but let the sunshine of general Chris- 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



75 



tian life lie over thein until they thaw out and tell it 
all themselves; only listen well and sympathize in all 
that they have done that is good, and this will be a 
mighty fulcrum skillfully used, with which, when the 
secret of their lives is gained, to lift them to Christ. 
Experience has shown us that there is no better way to 
reach men for good, who, approached directly, would 
surely repell those who ask them to give to some reason- 
able and financially practicable cause. If they refuse, 
never press it, have confidence in what they say, bid 
them good-bye without a sign of disappointment or 
impatience, and the probabilities are they will send it, 
or give an invitation to call again, regretting that they 
did not give at first. 

Disappointment will increase their discomfort. They 
expect to be beset and the asker to get fretted ; but they 
find themselves all mistaken in the man or woman, and 
they feel that they have been left to hold the responsi- 
bility. It seems within bounds to say that this course 
never failed, and men who gave nothing have become 
contributors at their own solicitation ; and whari is bet- 
ter, were happy over it, and became, on account of it, 
Church-goers, and often Christians; for wherever a 
man puts his money in this world he will be sure to go 
after his dividends, no matter in what kind of values 
they are paid. Neither is it worth the trouble to solicit 
help for any benevolent cause on a falling market ; men 
are depressed, and but few will give away capital even 
to God. We have always watched the markets to know 



76 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



when to ask one and another class to give. It is use- 
less to ask the broker or stock-dealer when every value is 
flat, but when a boom comes, and hope rides on the ris- 
ing current, then launch out. If the iron men are 
making money, they will give it; but when it is under 
price of production, pass them by. Business has much to 
do with benevolence if you have a cause that has any busi- 
ness sense or probabilities in it, and if you have not, 
better stay at home. Ask for it in a dignified manner 
and as briefly as possible ; put the main issue as on the 
assumption that the man asked has some sense and that 
he can see through you and your cause ; don't argue it 
.a minute; don't take his time or behave like a consti- 
tutional bore, but as a gentleman doing a work for 
Christ's sake, of w T hich he is not ashamed, and which he 
would spurn to do for himself; and above all, don't try 
to get money by a show of sanctimoniousness; it is no 
time for odors, no matter if they come out of the broken 
alabaster box. It is business that brings business to be 
done in haste and in a business way. 

Never complain or be discouraged if. you are so. Do 
not talk it, and never suggest failures. Only fools pitch 
their money away, like throwing chips into the sun. 
Leave the long face, if you have one, at home; be cour- 
teous and cheerful, and show some interest in the aifairs of 
your fellow-men, and do not dwell too much upon your 
own. Make your work only one of the countless forms 
of beneficence, not the hub of the universe, asking to be 
pushed on by its merits, rather than your description of it. 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



77 



These are a few practical suggestions which experience 
has taught, and, as this history is for those in like endeav- 
ors, we have given them for what they may be worth, 
with this unfailing fact that God has money in the world 
sufficient for every cause His own, and all we need to do 
to get it is to show that we are competent to manage it. 
trustful as to the result, and to treat men as if they all 
intended to do good. Have common sense, and be cour- 
teous in every duty and position, and act as if Christ's 
work always conferred dignity on the worker. As the 
eccentric Howels of London used to say, " If God 
should commission two Angels to go to London, one 
to mop the streets and the other to be Prime Minister, 
they would not care which would sway the sceptre or 
be scavenger, so the work was well done and God 
glorified/' 



CHAPTER X. 

Money enough was secured in vacation, either as a 
gift or in payment for preaching, to pay for the stone 
and laying of the cellar walls, but this only provoked 
scepticism as to the completion. The Pastor was com- 
pared to the man in the parable, who laid the founda- 
tion and was not able to finish. It was a surprise how 
many professed Christians are skilled in this thing, and 
how faithfully they serve the Devil in it. 

There is no encouragement to Christian enterprise in 
them; and when they do move, they ride on the wheels 
or pull back. There was a grand sufficiency of this thing. 
Donated objections were as plentiful as autumn leaves 
after a black frost. The fitness urged by the Scotch- 
man for a place in the eldership is no new phase in 
human nature. When his presbyterial qualifications 
were sought, it was said, " Can you pray in public ?" 
" No." " Can you comfort the sick and speak a word 
to the dying?" " No." " Well, what can you do?" 
"I can raise an objection." This kind became as thick 
as bees about a buckwheat field, around the new walled 
cellar. Some wanted to know what we had toward 
furthering the church. "Faith and four dollars and 
forty-one cents," was the reply, which almost always 
brought a look of pitiable scorn, or a great deal of scorn in 
a very thin tissue of pity. Some wanted to know why it 
was so big; thev said it could never be filled. The re- 
78 



MITES AGAINST Mill IONS. 



79 



ply was generally, " We are building for the niillenium." 
To others, it was hinted that whatever disaster should 
befall, they were not likely to be injured, as there was 
no corporation or trustees, it being in its responsibilities 
a mere private enterprise of the Pastor. 

Certain other pious people said it was a shame, for it 
was only a monument of the Pastor — a great building 
by which to glorify himself. Others were looking for 
some vast speculation by which he was to become rich, 
not being equal to the strain of thinking of any as less 
selfish than themselves. Some pastors thought that it 
was an outrage to build up a congregation which was to 
be only a feeder to the Alexander Church, as if there could 
be any wickedness in feeding the Alexander Church, 
or through it, the kingdom of heaven. One of the 
unsolved mysteries to those who aver that what they 
are not consulted about is a standing menace, was the 
fact that the wall of the new structure was built around 
the one we were using. Such an innovation on the habits 
of Philadelphia had never been known. The reason 
had to be given over and over again, before there was 
submission of mind to the unheard of thing. Xo one 
could tell when this church might be done, and to rob 
ourselves of our shelter would have been suicide. It 
was a suggestion of necessity, the mother of invention. 
The cellar was dug all about the wooden chapel, and 
walled, and then the building was raised a few feet, 
while the clay was removed from under it ; and when 
the girders and joists were ready to be laid, they were 



80 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



put in place, and the old building was let down upon 
the floor of the new, where it stayed, and we worshiped 
in it until the roof was ready to be put on the new one. 

The cellar was done, the money was expended, and 
we were brought to face with our first enforced delay, 
which was against us, for we had not reached a point in 
its progress to inspire confidence, and the human family 
does not usually give while it can find a reason so ap- 
parently valid as delay and possible failure. The next 
thing to be done was to obtain girders arid joists. This 
was the year after the Centennial exhibition, and the 
buildings were being removed, furnishing great quan- 
tities of material good as new. We learned that one of 
our citizens, R. J. Dobbins, Esq., had a contract for the 
removal of a part of the debris, and was bringing it 
within three squares of us. It was not known that he 
took any especial interest in churches, and the success 
of our endeavor to secure aid from him was doubted, 
but the result was not only successful, but one of 
the pleasant remembrances in this work. The his- 
tory was briefly told, the obligation explained, and 
then we said, "Mr. Dobbins, we know nothing of 
your religious convictions, but have no doubt that you 
are interested in the general good to community which 
the Church and Sabbath-school are doing, and this 
church has no congregational support. It was an effort 
to fulfill a child's dying request, and might on this ac- 
count appeal to every lover of childhood." We knew 
that this statement was the most likely to gain audience, 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



81 



for who has not some hidden memory, over which the si- 
lent tear will fall as the eye is cast on the veiled picture 
upon the wall, or who has not some token somewhere, of 
the little hands that have forgot their cunning, or some 
loving smile all the brighter in fitful moments of mem- 
ory, because the face on which it played is seen no more. 

He immediately gave an order to the gate-keeper to 
give what was needed, and what was better, became a 
friend to the effort until it was crowned with success. 
We used as much as we supposed the order covered, 
and after this, needing more, went back, saying, "We 
have taken as much as conscience will permit, on this 
order, and have come now to purchase. Thinking that 
you may not have provided for your funeral services, 
we w r ould like to strike a trade with you on this basis, 
giving you the best possible funeral service for lumber, 
the lumber to be delivered in advance." 

The proposition, as was intended, surprised him, and 
in a good-natured way he turned to his friends, and 
said, u Good heavens, did you ever hear of such a man. 
I gave him lumber until his conscience would not allow 
him to take more, and now he proposes to bury me for 
the rest." The proposition was immediately changed, 
and it w r as proposed, as he did not relish the idea of pay- 
ing for a funeral service in advance, to give him preach- 
ing for lumber, which he readily accepted, and gave an- 
other order. In passing down stairs from his office, one 
of his friends said, "You may think this is a joke, and 
that he will never call on you for that preaching, but 



82 MITES AGAINST MILLIONS, 



Fll bet that he never yet got trade that he did not use 
it," which was a prophecy singularly fulfilled. About 
three months afterward, a note was received from our bene- 
factor, saying, " I want you to come out to Ashbourne 
next Sabbath and dedicate our church' It was regarded 
in the light of a joke at first, to get even about the engage- 
ment to take preaching for lumber, but calling upon 
him, it was as he had written. He said, "My wife is an 
Episcopalian, and I go sometimes, but we have no 
church in our village, and I heard that a company of 
young people of the Market Square Church, Ger- 
man town, had purchased a building used for a photo- 
graph saloon, and had tried somehow to move it to 
another site, to start a Presbyterian mission Sunday- 
school, and, as I was coming into the city, I saw that 
they had upset it in moving it, and were so awkward 
about it, that I told my men to help put it to its 
place, when, to my surprise, they told me that it was so 
badly broken it could not be put up, and I then saw 
that I was in for it, so I built them a new one, and it 
will be ready for use next Sunday, and, as they have no 
preacher, I told them that I had an account with a 
preacher, who was to give me preaching for lumber. 
So I invite you to come out and preach," which we did 
for several times. We do not know whether he consid- 
ers the account yet settled. But this was the beginning 
of one of our most promising suburban churches, now 
preparing to build a handsome house of worship, to 
which he has promised to contribute liberally. 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



83 



At the begining of the autumn of 1878, the cellar was 
dug and walled and paid for. The old wooden build- 
ing had been raised on jacks above the walls and the 
clay taken out from under it for the purpose of having 
the new structure built around it, that it might be used 
as a place of worship while the outer one, of greater 
proportions, was being completed. 

The following cut is the fac-simile of the place as it 
appeared. To the amazement of all, the congregation 
kept up, though winter came on, and they suffered from 
the cold coming up through the floor, for the underpin- 
ning had been taken away, and the boards were loosened 
by the strain in raising. The spirit of the Lord was in 
this place, and people gathered to the services from 
all over the city, and strangers visiting would come to 
see it as one of the modern curiosities. The Sabbath- 
school increased, and another dispensation of the Spirit's 
presence was felt. It could hardly be called a revival, 
but was a time of unusual blessing ; about forty made 
profession of their faith, so that at the end of the second 
year there were over one hundred, w T hose membership 
was in the Alexander Church, and who considered this 
lowly tabernacle their birth-place and home. The most 
of the gatherings were from the young ; an incident in 
connection with one of those who came into the church 
at that time will give some idea of the spirit prevailing 
among those young disciples. A little girl who had 
been deformed by spinal disease, and looked very help- 
less, made her profession. We could not see that she 



84 MITES A GAINST MILIIONS. 



was in faith superior to the rest, but none of us knew 
how soon what faith she had would be put to a crucial 
test. She was a passenger on the ill-fated Narragansett,, 
from Boston to New York, and in the midst of the 
terrible consternation she was composed. A gentleman 
found her in her night dress, on her knees; while all 
around her were panic-stricken, the most helpless, lonely 
child was composed. He observed her conduct, and 
asked who she was, and where from, and who she had 
to care for her in the dreadful ordeal. Her reply was 
that she had asked God to take care of her, and she 
was displaying the composure of one who believed it. 
He was so impressed with her behavior that he took 
her, saying, " If there is not another saved from aboard 
this ship, this child shall be," and swam to the shore 
^jiih her. Somebody gave her a wrap, and one after 
another helped her on her lonely way until she arrived 
safely at home. 

The spring brought a troop of adversities that threat- 
ened our existence. The United Presbyterian Church, 
at Fifteenth and Master Streets, only five squares and a 
half away, had a dissension, beginning with the subject 
of admitting members of secret societies to communion. 
Whether for this cause or not we do not know certainly, 
it culminated in the resignation of the pastor, after 
whose absence for a year, the disaffected party made an 
effort to organize a church to be in Presbyterian con- 
nection, and to recall the former pastor. They applied 
to be organized by the Presbytery of Philadelphia 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



85 



Central, and to be located at the corner of Seventeenth 
and Jefferson Streets, in which position the rears of the 
churches would have been less than three squares apart, 
and this after the Presbytery had appointed the position 
of our chapel, after a hot contest, because it was a 
little less than five squares away from the Columbia 
Avenue Church, by which the Presbytery would have 
broken over an understanding which had come to be 
regarded as common law, that its new churches should 
not be located nearer than five squares to each other, 
besides breaking faith with our mission, which it had 
located to be the future position of the present Memorial 
Church. This new faction came with great promises of 
wealth, and utterly indifferent as to whether it destroyed 
us or not. Thousands of dollars were flourished against 
weakness, as it appeared in their sight. The Pastor of 
the chapel had given his bond for $14,500 for the 
ground, not a dollar of which was paid. The cellar was 
dug and walled, and joists already placed for the present 
church building — a personal responsibility which would 
have reduced him to bankruptcy. For having no cor- 
poration, no one being willing to share the responsibility 
of an enterprise so desperate, it was wholly a personal 
undertaking. 

The contest was a severe < me, for men are captivated 
by promises of wealth in connection with church ef- 
forts, and to many it was thought wise to receive them, 
and let us perish if needs be. Others thought that we 
would be no hinderance to each other. But monied men 



86 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



have common sense, a quality which preachers do not 
always comprehend until they run against the jagged 
fact. Those from whom we had received help and ex- 
pected more, said if they were located so closely they 
would abandon our effort. It was the question of per- 
sonal financial existence and honor with the Pastor, and 
the extinction of the young church of prayers, self 
denials, and tears, the covenant church, whose Advocate 
was in heaven. The resolve was made in the reckless 
opposition of those who were thrusting themselves into 
the church with the insolence of wealth, overbearing 
those already there, that the contest would only be given 
up when death made it no longer possible. God . and 
His righteousness were bound by truth and covenant to 
be with us, and God and the feeblest saint make a 
majority of the whole. 

The contest in Presbytery extended over the day and 
part of the night, and was settled by a compromise that 
the friends of this mission would agree to the organization 
proposed, on the condition that they would locate at the 
corner of Broad and* Master Streets, after which this 
specific agreement was recorded, and they were organized 
under the title of the Church of the Covenant. In this 
controversy many of thebrethern favored this new church 
organization, not because they desired to cripple or 
destroy our work, but were deceived by the reckless 
promises of a great church coming into existence, like 
Minerva from the brain of Jove, equipped and helping 
all the benevolences of the Church at large, and every 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



87 



other grand endeavor that fevered imaginations could 
conceive, no part of which loudly-boasted aid was, 
ever given, and the inflated Church of the Covenant 
flickered out in the same element in which it made 
its advent — vapor. But this engagement, so solemnly 
made in order to secure organization, was only a hollow 
truce. Excuses were made for opening the case at a 
monthly meeting, on the first of September, when many 
of the pastors had not returned from their vacation, and 
others w T ere providentially hindered from being present. 
The Pastor was not there, and no Elder from the Alex- 
ander Church, the sponsor of the mission. 

The members had been canvassed, and every possible 
motive brought to bear to effect a change, and at last a 
resolution was carried by one vote to let them go to 
Seventeenth and Jefferson Streets, the old place given up 
as a matter of solemn compact. It was not even done 
by a reconsideration of the former action of the Presby- 
tery, nullifying the compromise, which would have 
looked like parliamentary decency; but by a resolution, 
and that with a single vote in favor, and in the face of 
an earnest appeal by Dr. Musgrave and others to defer it 
until the parties interested could be heard, was this vexa- 
tious subject opened up by the same spirit and tactics of 
this refractory organization, which had come into the 
Presbytery to oppose the children born in her household. 
The news reached the Pastor of the Alexander Church by 
letters from the late Rev. Dr. Wm. O. Johnstone and 
others, strongly condemning the manner in which it was 



88 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



done; some of these personally favored the change. 
But it can hardly be believed that the brethren com- 
prehended the magnitude of the wrong; they were 
deceived again by the glowing promises and expectations, 
which vanished beyond even color from this day forward. 
There was no use fighting the battle again in Presbytery, 
for if one compromise, which was put in the form of a 
binding obligation, would not restrict, there was no hope 
in new ones, for it would have required sentinels to have 
stood on the watch that the same advantage would not 
be taken again. A complaint to the Synod was the only 
remedy that seemed to give hope of relief. It was signed 
by nearly all the pastors, some of whom were not opposed 
so much to the action of the Presbytery as the manner 
of it. It charged the Presbytery with covenant break- 
ing, not offensively, for it was a great trial to the author 
and signers to say this of brethern in whom they had 
the highest confidence. It was charged only in an 
official sense. Of those who took an especial interest in 
behalf of the complainants was the first signer of the 
complaint, Rev. Addison Henry, D.D., who made an 
able plea in the behalf of the suffering cause and people, 
wronged in the action of the Presbytery. Dr. Ruel 
Stewart, an Elder in the Alexander Church, made an 
able and eloquent speech after both the complaining 
mission and the Presbytery were heard. The Synod, by 
a majority of one hundred and nine to nine, decided that 
the complaint was just, and ordered the Presbytery to 
conform to its action, by which the location of the 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 89 



Church of the Covenant was settled by agreement, which 
was faithfully carried out. In this struggle for good 
faith and existence, and to keep the obligations entered 
into with the departed child, and the engagement made 
to generous donors, the Pastor was misrepresented to his 
detriment in community. He was charged with inter- 
fering in the affairs of the Church of the Covenant, by 
malignant, suspicious and ungovernable tongues, and 
he now records his denial to all such charges, having 
never said a word to the owner of the ground at Broad 
and Jefferson, by which the price was raised. He did 
not know who owned this property until he heard it in 
the Presbytery from the representatives of the Church 
of the Covenant. Among many slanders, one of the 
Elders had the audacity to state in a report on the floor 
of Presbytery that the Pastor of the mission had used 
his influence to deter Dr. Kerr, of New York, their for- 
mer pastor, from accepting their call ; this was strangled 
in a very summary manner on the floor of Presbytery 
by the production of a letter from Dr. Kerr, saying that 
he had never mentioned the subject in his hearing. 

Thus the Church of the Covenant has since been dis- 
solved, as might have been expected. 



CHAPTER XL 



When the spring came there was not much pros- 
pect ahead. The adversities enumerated in the last 
Chapter had furnished excuses against giving enough for 
a whole year. There had been so many discouraging 
rumors started in this Presbyterial contest that it seemed 
after advantages had been gained this mission would die 
of exhaustion. Stone w T as needed to go on with the 
building, but there was no money, and credit was not 
desired, for it was the solemn determination and declar- 
ation to the world to pay as the work went on. 

Weary days and nights were spent in wrestling with 
the question of the future. Any show of weakness 
would have crushed hope, for many had their hands 
behind their ears to hear even the sighs of despair. 
During one of these troubled nights memory brought 
the recollection of an immense pile of stone on the banks 
of the Schuylkill, ten or twelve miles up, which had 
been observed for years in occasionally passing up and 
down the railway, without the slightest idea to whom it 
belonged. God's help was asked that day, as on many 
another dark day, to make the mission successful in 
reaching the hearts of men. In the prayer-meeting, 
the night before, nearly all petitioned for the means to 
complete this house. Taking the cars in search of the 
owner of this stone, the quarry was reached, and the men 
working it were interviewed about it. They said it be- 
90 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 91 



longed to Sam Prince. Their opinion was asked as to 
the probability that he would donate it to a poor 
church. They looked confounded ; they had never heard 
of anything so audacious, and, no doubt, thought that 
this was a case of mild religious madness. Inquiry was 
made if he w T ere a church man. "Not much/' was the 
laconic reply. " You don't think he will give that pile 
away ?" " Well, Mister, you had better try him, and you 
will know." "Where does he live ?" "Up on the hill, 
two miles away." "How do you get up?" "You will 
have to ride Shank's mare," said one, but another took 
pains to point out the winding way through the forest. 
Desperation impelled, rather than hope. Something 
had to be done. The splendid farm and house, the 
synonym of the luxury of a country gentleman, was 
reached. Barns and stables, conservatories, vineyard 
fruits and pines, inviting enough to all but the church 
beggar. At the approach the dog growled, and the 
chickens, as if by instinct, made for the barn yard. 
The bell was reached and feebly pulled, and then the 
wish came that he might be away. Heart failed to 
confront a stranger for such a purpose, whose face and 
sympathies were unknown. Strangely enough, the gen- 
tleman himself came to the door, who, being addressed 
as Mr. Prince, responded with an invitation to enter, 
with a gentlemanly cordiality. The conversation was 
upon general subjects until it seemed that no opportunity 
would come to tell him the object of the visit. So at 
last something had to be done; time would permit no 



92 MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 



further delay, and a more astonished auditor never lis- 
tened. As briefly as possible the history of the treasure 
was told, and the necessities in the case. He asked how 
much stone was wanted, and it occurred to the Pastor 
that he might as well ask for much as little ; the prob- 
abilities were that it would be all one in the end, so he 
replied, u Seventeen hundred perches," an amount that 
would have upset many, but it did not seem to discon- 
cert him. He did not say a word, and the Pastor be- 
gan to move for the door, thinking the light beyond 
would give relief to one who had gone on a fool's errand. 
Mr. Prince walked with him to the station, two miles, 
which impressed that he was either an exceedingly polite 
man or that he intended to do something for the cause. 
At parting, he said, "I will send you four hundred 
perches; you will pay for the loading, and then we will 
talk about it." He sent stone as long as it was needed, 
on these terms; and considering the time and stress 
upon us, it was the most helpful donation given during 
the progress of the work. But the stone was fifteen 
miles away, and the freight itself was an item to be 
overcome. To this end President Gowan, of the Read- 
ing Railroad, was called upon, who put this church on 
the list of the churches on the line of the road, and 
carried the stone at half rates. The gift was not more 
grateful than the kindly way in which he received and 
heard the story of the endeavor, and the interest he took 
in it, manifested by the most timely help. 

The stone donated was only for "backing," or inside 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS, 



93 



stone. The surface was not yet provided for. One 
hundred perches of Trenton brown stone were purchased 
and donated, which the Pennsylvania Railroad delivered 
at a special price, but little over half rates; besides this 
they brought two car loads of lumber from the Alle- 
ghenies at a nominal rate, the gift of Mr. Henry Shil- 
lingford. 

These donations put us in motion, but money had to 
be constantly procured to pay the labor in building. 
This came oft almost as a continuous miracle. There was 
no help but prayer ; the people engrafted their petitions in 
their daily prayers that the Pastor might receive money 
for the week. Sometimes until Saturday afternoon 
there would be no prospect of money to pay the labor- 
ers, and before the day had ended there was enough, 
Xo man ever went away without his money, if he wanted 
it, from the beginning to the finishing of this great build- 
ing. It was a constant strain on the mind of the Pastor, 
but God never failed in His engagement from the time, 
by His providence, He said, "Go forward." Sometimes 
people would bring it at the last moment. One Satur- 
day night, within a half hour of time to stop work, he 
was ten dollars short, and in a few minutes a lady passed 
by and placed twelve dollars in his hands, refusing to 
give her name. At another time he had been so hardly 
pressed for money that it was determined to stop work, 
and the masons were preparing the walls for covering 
from the storm when a gentleman came by and asked 
why we were going to stop work, and on hearing the 



94 



MITES AGAINST MIL HONS. 



reason, said, "What a pity to stop in this fine weather; 
go on for two weeks, and I will foot the bills." 

We had friends who were constant in their benefac- 
tions, giving from year to year stated sums. Of these 
we would only be faithful to the memory of the just to 
mention Mr. Wm. Adamson, one of the noblest men 
Philadelphia has ever had the honor to claim as her own. 
His worth had been tested when building:, the Cohock- 
sink Church, where his gifts reached over one thousand 
dollars; and when this more dependent work upon the 
general public began, he poured the gifts and sym- 
pathies of his noble nature into it, saying, "At the first 
of July, come around and I will help you with whatever 
I have; but don't give up. If you find you can't get on, 
come at any time." But in the crisis of the struggle, one 
morning, his heart ceased to beat, and he dropped asleep 
on his way to his business; it was a sad day for the 
needy when he closed his eyes on this world. His wife 
and sons finished his work in our behalf. They asked 
if the husband-father had made any promises to our 
church ; when told that a hundred dollars was due soon 
after his decease, they were ready to meet it, but it was 
suggested, in lieu of it, that they should put in a memo- 
rial window to his name, which w r as done when the time 
came for it, and it commemorates the name of a noble 
Christian man, and is also a testimony to the honor in 
which a husband and father's word was held, by his wife 
and children. 

In these trying days God gave faithful friends, who 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS, 



95 



not only helped financially, but entered into the ser- 
vices of this young mission. Mr. James Hogg, an Elder 
in the Cohocksink Church during our pastorate there, 
and after in the Alexander Church, espoused this work 
from the beginning, both himself and family coming to 
the services of prayer and praise on Friday night, and 
the preaching on Sabbath; his wife also joining with 
the faithful women workers in all their endeavors. Mr. 
Hogg's gifts were large. In addition to a superb mem- 
orial window, he gave the last five hundred dollars, by 
which the last farthing of debt upon the church was re- 
moved. His son, J. Ren wick Hogg, entered at the or- 
ganization, and serves in the Diaconate. He is also a 
teacher of one of the Adult Bible Classes, and has been 
a giver and laborer in all our work since our organiza- 
tion. 

The history of this work, when ended, will show alter- 
nate lights and shadows. Light would break in only as 
it seemed to be shrouded again in disappointing darkness. 
One of our heroic workers, Mr. Warthman, whose faith 
quickened in crises, met Mr. Thomas Potter, a boyhood 
friend, and told him of our efforts to build a house of 
worship, and how it began, and the nature of the obli- 
gations, until Mr. Potter became interested, and indi- 
cated his purpose to give, asking him to send the 
Pastor to see him. The request was most gratefully 
granted, for there was hope in it. He said, during our 
short interview, that he would give us five thousand 
dollars if we adhered to our policy to pay as the work 



96 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



proceeded. The Pastor said, "Mr. Potter, if we put up 
the building clear of debt, won't you pay for the ground ?" 
upon which was a mortgage of seven thousand dollars, 
the interest of which often took all the money we could 
raise, impairing the progress of the building. He said, 
" I will give you five thousand dollars, and will think on 
your proposition." A few days after he met his old 
friend, Mr. Warthman, and said to him, " I promised 
your Pastor five thousand dollars, and have about made 
up my mind to make it seven thousand, or pay for the 
ground." Mr. Warthman was rejoiced, and said, "Mr. 
Potter, life is uncertain; had you not better put it in the 
form of written obligation ?" He said, "Adam, you know 
my word is as good as my bond." A short time after he 
said, "If you will complete the house without debt, I will 
satisfy the mortgage on the ground/ We said, "Can we 
use this proposition to raise money?" "Yes," said he, 
" you may make any use of it you wish." 

It was a happy day when this announcement was made. 
It was uplifting; it inspired confidence in the efforts 
being made. It was said, If such a man as Thomas 
Potter espouses their cause, it is all straight, and he will 
see it through. He became greatly interested in our 
progress, and frequently, in interviews, expressed his 
satisfaction in the work. This engagement was used 
publicly and privately to stimulate to benefactions. 

During the vacation, for the summer following, the 
Pastor traveled, preaching on the Sabbath, giving to 
the building the money received for supplying pulpits, 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



97 



and what money the people were prompted to offer. 
When they heard of the beginning and progress of the 
work, many gave, saying, " It would be a pity that the 
$7000 promised to pay for the ground should be lost. 
But these hopes were short-lived. Though transient, and 
not to be realized, they were permitted, perhaps, to stimu- 
late in a day of depressions, and carry over the valley of 
the shadow of despair. Whatever the purpose can not be 
divined. But when the autumn came, all expectations in 
this direction were eclipsed, and not a ray has ever yet 
beamed on the darkness, though a blessed providence 
called Mr. Stuart into his place to do the work. 
Having heard that Mr. Potter was ill, the Pastor went 
to see him, but he was too ill to converse. Thinking, no 
doubt, about his engagement, he sent word that it was all 
right, as it would have been if death had not intervened ; 
his only mistake was in having reckoned without this 
constant factor — death — in all time concerns. He recov- 
ered so far as to be able to go to the city, and had a 
Will in partial completion, in which, without doubt, 
he would have placed an obligation covering his word, 
which, while life lasted, was, as he said, as good as 
his bond, but within another day he had passed quickly 
and unconsciously to his rest. It was a sad event to 
all who knew t him ; it was to those who had built 
such hopes upon him, but God threw all back on Him- 
self, and taught His people not to rely on man, whose 
breath is in His nostrils. A correspondence was had 
about it with his administrator, but it would neither be 



98 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



profitable nor interesting to give it, and it would all have 
been gladly passed in silence but for two facts. Mr. 
Potter intended to do what he said, and inasmuch as he 
had it in his heart to do it, is worthy of a place in this 
history; and the other is in vindication of personal 
honor. Money was raised on this promise, and it is but 
honest to tell the contributors why this seven thousand 
dollars does not appear in the account. 

Traveling beyond the boundaries of our own coun- 
try into Canada, where the child's bequest touched 
foreign hearts as quickly as those of our own country- 
men. Sorrow and love are not bounded by rivers 
and lakes. In Ottawa the Pastor preached in the two 
largest Presbyterian Churches, and kind responses 
came from both. It was during the hardest times in 
this city, on account of the depression of the lumber 
interests, and it was thought that lumber to finish the 
church could be brought from this place to Philadelphia, 
and a large quantity was generously donated by the 
mills, but it was found impracticable to ship it after 
it was given, but it is to their credit that it was in 
their hearts to give it. Our kinsman, Alexander Mutch- 
more, a wholesale dry goods merchant, and his family, 
gave time and money, and introduced the subject to 
friends, who were like-minded. The Elders of the 
Second Church, Ottawa, planned a fishing excursion, 
north to the lakes, from which the Gattineau is a large 
tributary to the Ottawa River. It was a journey 
never to be forgotten on account of its surpassing 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



99 



mountain beauties. One hundred miles north, into the 
stillness of a forest, where only the solitary note of, here 
and there, a bird could be heard, and the shadow of the 
eagle crossed your patlr; where the Indian was the 
native, though the lumbermen had taken possession long 
enough to denude the mountains and valleys of their 
lordly pines. The bears held possession, and would 
venture uncomfortably near cabin and tent. In these soli- 
tudes were spent as happy days as ever beamed on 
existence. The tourists had bark canoes, and Indians 
to carry them over the falls that brought the waters of 
one lake into another, and Indians to cook for them 
and row their barks. 

Some of these lakes, about thirty in number, and 
from five to thirty miles long, lie imprisoned by moun- 
tains, the tops of which seemed to be at the bottom 
of the crystal waters, in which the fish could be seen in 
their schools, while split fragments of mountains rose 
in islands from their bosoms ; and what surprised us 
most, the sea gulls were there in great numbers. Why, 
at first we could not conceive, but found that they were 
there for the sake of their young, which they rear here, 
far beyond danger and temptation, and when they have 
given them the needed parental culture and care they 
send them out into the dangers of seafaring life. This is 
the instinct of fatherhood and motherhood. The animals 
seem, sometimes, to us, to have brought it down from 
before the time when man sinned in the world, and the 



100 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



consequences of the fall have never diverted them from 
the duties of parentage. We learned this much of duty 
amid the solitudes of nature, by a new class of preachers, 
and have lived to give new motives and zest to parents to 
rear their children where temptation can not assail them 
until moral principle has been planted and cultivated, un- 
til good will, at least, have an equal start with evil in the 
race of life. But in the bosom of these solitudes another 
surprise started up into our observation. We never 
thought that God had help for the work so far away 
in this wilderness. One day when out with the 
Indian boatman, happening to take the tin box from 
our pocket, in which were the coins, the Indian said, 
"Tobac," thinking it was a tobacco-box. We were 
at his mercy, and felt constrained to explain. If 
::s ohoiiiu see the money, he might want this too ; so 
the story of the box was told in the simplest manner 
possible, but he understood more English than he 
could speak, and soon he dropped his oar and fishing 
line, and opened his mouth in wonder. He asked that 
it be told again, and the tears ran down over his cheeks, 
when he said, " Me no thief ; me not want your money ; 
me Christian, me Catholic; me pray the Holy Virgin; 
me pray Jesus; me give you money;" and taking from 
his bosom his tobacco bag, and from it a little purse, 
he drew out a shilling, and looking up into the sky, 
he said, " Me pray for your little girl's church." 

Several thousand dollars have been received at one 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 101 



time for this work, but no gift ever touched deep- 
est sympathies as this one, away in the lonely north, 
under the blue sky, and on the blue lake, when the soul 
of this child of nature broke out in the confession of 
his faith, and confirmed it by his sacrifice in doing what 
he could. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The autumn brought prospects, anxieties, and disap- 
pointments. The stone work was about half completed 
when it was found that the old wooden chapel'would have 
to be taken out in order to get in the girders and other 
necessary supports. A section of the permanent build- 
ing was prepared. A felt roof was put on the second 
floor, and one coat of plaster was put upon the walls, 
and then farewell sermons, and prayers, and hymns were 
uttered over the tabernacle that had so often beheld the 
glory of God, and in which so many had been born to 
Christ. The last Sabbath it was occupied, one side was 
almost out of it. But the shell was full, and a strange 
pathos possessed the audience as they sang the last 
hymns, and thanked God for His wonderful mercies 
during nearly two years of abiding under this shelter. 
The meeting was given up to the audience to carry 
through as the spirit moved them ; and there were 
speeches, prayers, and memories uttered that will never 
be lost. 

The new place was never equal to the bid. The first 
day it was occupied the plastering dripped with moisture. 
Why the people did not die from damp and cold 
could never be understood. It always leaked ; and often 
the matting was saturated on which the congregation 
sat ; and if a storm came at the last of the week, all 
hearts beat with fear. A_s the stone work neared com- 
102 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 103 



pletion, and a south gable was almost done, it was left 
in its green state, without sufficient propping, to en- 
counter one of the severest storms ever known in Phila- 
delphia; and forty tons of it fell, crushing twenty 
feet of our new place of worship into fragments. 
Chairs, windows, books, joists, and floors were a mass 
of ruin. That was a dark day, without a cent in 
the treasury, to have to go over the work again ; but 
the conviction did not falter that it was God's work, and. 
must be carried on. The howl of persecution set in; the 
whole building was reproached because a fragment had 
fallen in a tornado. Instead of help and comfort from 
many professed Christians, we were denounced as fools. 
But this had been encountered before, and while it ex- 
asperated, it raised determination to' a white heat. 
When the Cohocksink Church was being erected, a like 
storm caught it partially roofed, and put it in great peril, 
and the usual descendents of Sanballat were on hand, and 
the hearts of the people wavered. One of the members, 
strong-hearted and big-fisted G. W. Swartz, clenched 
his hands and said, in the face of the perils, "We 
will live to make sinners tremble in this house yet." 
These now became the rallying sentiments, and within 
ten days all was right again. The young men came and 
delved into the stone and mortar, and cleared away the 
rubbish, and some carpenters volunteered, and those w T ho 
could not work in the day, because of other engage- 
ments, wrought at night ; the boys ran on errands, held 
lamps, or anything else possible, and it was finished 



104 MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS, 



in shouts of triumph; and it is not certain that there 
was not some derision, more pointed than pleasant, at 
the false prophets who laid burdens on us in our ad- 
versities. God did not despise our efforts, for the win- 
ter was one of blessed memories. The Sabbath-school 
crowded every corner, the congregations were large on 
the Sabbaths, the Friday night meetings were precious, 
and large numbers of converted sinners were added to 
the church. 

Thunder and lightning, Satan and hell, can't hurt 
a church animated by the Spirit of God, and cheered and 
strengthened in the conversion of souls. Except in the 
spiritual work of the church and its enjoyments, there was 
not much comfort in this temporary arrangement. The 
roof would leak -if enough of either snow or water to get 
through would fall or melt. Sometimes on Saturday 
nights, and even Sabbath, a half dozen men would have 
to get upon the roof and turn the water by every possi- 
bility of ingenuity. One Saturday night could not be 
left out of this history, for it will show the spirit of the 
young men in this mission, and reveal the secret of much 
of its power. It was raining torrents on a bed of snow, 
the water was streaming through into the place of wor- 
ship below, and there was no relief but in going on the 
roof at ten o'clock at night, in the darkness of a drench- 
ing storm, and shoveling the snow from it. The Pastor 
and a company of young men, ever ready to go with him, 
took lanterns, which were blown out almost as fast as they 
could be lighted, but they pushed on in the work for two 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 105 

hours. Some of the young men went to a neighboring 
brickyard and got buckets of mud, and stopped the leak- 
ages with their own hands, and when the work was over 
were drenched. 

The names of these heroes were William Shaw, now 
a Deacon in the church; Julius McClure; William Mc- 
Cutcheon, now superintendent of the Primary school, 
and a Deacon in the church ; Walter Shaw, one of the 
assistants in the Primary school; and Horace Patton, 
now gone to his rest, about whom we shall have more 
to say in the future. These, and other vouno- men, were 
ready to do any drudgery; it was not even self-denial. 
They took care of the places of worship, doing the sex- 
ton's work when there was no money. Mr. Isaac Pur- 
cell's name belongs to the list. He and William Shaw 
made the plans and assisted in the practical work of 
directing the building until its completion. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The stone work was nearly completed by the first of 
January, and the great problem was how to secure the 
roof. It would be an immense roof, of difficult con- 
struction, requiring nearly forty thousand feet of planed 
timber; and the work required was almost appalling. 
There was no money and no prospect. There were three 
old men, who had wrought for months as carpenters; 
they were needy, in the midst of one of the hardest win- 
ters of the financial crisis. They were members of the 
Presbyterian Church ; but the churches to which they 
belonged were poor, and unable to help them if starva- 
tion should grin at their doors. The last day of Decem- 
ber went out in a snow storm, during which all the men 
Avere discharged, having barely enough to pay them, and 
when work should again begin was a problem, the solu- 
tion of which was with God. They parted from us sadly. 
There would be no greetings of Happy New Year in their 
homes, for there was no work ; a thousand carpenters 
could have been employed for one dollar a day, and even 
this would not have tempted men to build. 

The watch-night service has always been observed 

from eleven o'clock until the entering of the new 

year, and it has been, personally, a profitable season. 

But it was not so on this occasion, because disturbed 

bv the sad faces of the men discharged in the storm, 
106 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 107 



with no hope of bread for the future. The prayers, 
like Pharaoh's chariots at the Red Sea, drove heavily 
on their axles. When the new year came, many of 
our members said, " You do not seem happy ; what 
is the matter ?" The shadows of those faces that lay 
across the soul could not be explained. The Pastor went 
home and laid down to rest, but it was a rest startled by 
visions. He was aroused by what seemed an Angel 
voice saying, a Go to William Hogg, and he will put the 
roof on the church." This was a surprise for two reasons. 
First, because the pastor had never been in the habit, 
even in childhood, of dreaming, and the other was that 
he had not seen or thought of Mr. Hogg for a long time. 
He had been a parishoner in the Cohocksink Church, 
but the Pastor had been away from it for years. 

The dream so impressed him that the Pastor arose, 
lighted the gas, looked at the time, and found it to be 
half-past one. He retired, trying to think no more 
about it; but the same impression deepened, "Go to 
William Hogg, and he will put the roof on the church." 
He again arose, looked at the time, and it was five minutes 
to two o'clock. He then sat down and wrote Mr. Hogg 
all that had transpired, and the necessities of the case, 
in which were the hardships of the men discharged. 
Mr. Hogg received the letter during the time of the 
family gathering on New Year's day. His brother saw 
him open it and read a part, and from his manner he in- 
ferred that he was not pleased ; he put it in his pocket, 
remarking that it was from his former pastor. Soon 



108 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



after he came to the office of the Presbyterian and said 
he wanted a private interview. The Pastor was half 
nervous lest he might be angry at the freedom he had 
taken, but he was determined to vindicate the act as 
being the voice of God. Mr. H. said, "You wrote me 
a letter." "Yes," was the reply, "It was, as I be- 
lieve, the will of God." He said, "I believe you 
are the best friend I have," and while the tears were 
coursing their way down his cheeks he said, " I want you 
to pray for me." And there in a fireless room, in the 
dead of winter, without a single article of furniture in 
it, the Pastor dropped on his knees, and, obeying his re- 
quest, prayed for him; and when he had risen Mr. Hogg 
said, "I have resolved to give you the money to put on 
your church roof." "But," said he, " everybody that 
promises you money and don't pay it instantly, dies," 
referring to the death of Mr. Potter and others already 
mentioned, "And, as I don't want your church roof to 
kill me, I will give you a check now," which he did, 
and they parted, the Pastor promising to pray for him. 

This was not all. He gave afterward, and had promised 
further help during his last illness. His gift was the 
most timely of all, for the last day of that year was passed 
hard to the coast line of despair ; and now that he has 
gone to eternity it is but a poor requital to open up a 
bright spot, which his modesty would forever have 
hidden. Our heavens cleared up, and timber was 
bought, and a contribution secured in the purchase from 
Mr. Joseph Gillingham, and the distressed men were 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 109 



back to work, and bread secured for their needy fami- 
lies. 

Everything worked in our favor. This help had in- 
creased the enthusiasm of our people, and it had inspired 
confidence in the community, that, now as the w T alls were 
up and the roof in progress, it would be a success. It 
was all spring sunshine ; though the toil increased, our 
spiritual condition was good, the people had come more 
and more to believe in the efficacy of prayer, and their 
petitions became the means of finishing the church, and 
that God would bless all that had given and were giv- 
ing, was a constant quantity in both home and public 
worship. 

During this summer the shadow of disappointment 
crossed our pathway again. Mr. Joseph Singerly had 
promised one thousand dollars to this w r ork. He had a 
lively interest in church building, and had given aid to 
the Pastor in the building of the Cohocksink Church, 
and it was not hard to reach his heart again. It w r as 
regarded as at the disposal of the Pastor at any moment, 
and he kept it back for some desperate straight, or he 
might have had it, but Mr. Singerly was too quickly cut 
down in death, and as it had been because of the Pastor's 
own delay that it w T as»not paid, he said nothing about it 
to his heirs. But God's w T ay was soon revealed; the 
resources had become exhausted, and we were again re- 
duced to prayer as a last resort. On the Friday night 
meeting, after God had been asked to help us, Mr. 
Warthman arose and put in the Pastor's hand a check 



1 10 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



for five hundred dollars, from the son, William M. 
Singerly. So out of one apparent loss a new fountain 
of supplies had been opened, and this worthy son con- 
tinued to give until it aggregated more than a thousand 
dollars. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The summer was well on, and the Pastor had been 
invited to Canada again, to preach the discourse upon the 
occasion of the dedication of the church of the Rev. John 
Smith, of Toronto. He stopped by the way at Rochester, 
and preached for Dr. George Patton, whose family and 
church contributed to the fund, and started hope again 
upon its mission. 

Canada Presbyterians are conscientious in their giving, 
but are as easily reached through their affections as our 
own people, and, according to their means, more liberal. 
This new church, in Toronto, had been built at a great 
sacrifice; a beautiful structure, beyond the apparent 
ability of the congregation, but with a heroism that 
shows the sublimity of the religion of Jesus Christ, they 
had carried it on to completion ; and dedication day a 
great effort was made to finish it, and they were not want- 
ing in the crisis. But what is more surprising, they con- 
tributed to our work as well, revealing the oft patent 
fact, that it is they who are staggering under their bur- 
dens who are most conscientious in all the benevolences 
of Christ's cause. 

From here the way was down the St. Lawrence, that 
wonderful watery thread that God has stretched as the 
boundary between two nations, alike in heart and hopes, 
though widely separated in manner and habits of 
thought. On the way was encountered a company of 

111 



112 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



fast men ; the ringleader was from Chicago, though by 
birth a German. They were playing cards and drink- 
ing most of the way, profane and boisterous. It was 
difficult to make up sets for their games, for to the honor 
of the crowd, few cared to join a group so reckless. In 
looking around they had passed the Pastor several times, 
but at last the ringleader ventured to ask if he would 
join in their sport. The invitation was respectfully 
declined. But he was not disposed to let the subject go, 
and began to argue the case, using Occasionally a pro- 
fane word, to which the reply was, " Friend, are you a 
Christian ?" " No," said he, " I have a contempt for the 
whole thing ; why did you ask me, do I look like one ?" 
"Not particularly, but we have always thought that a 
gentleman must be, as far as this goes, a Christian, for in 
the New Testament it is required of Christians to be 
courteous, to be hospitable, kind to strangers, and there 
is not on record an example of urbanity that compares 
with Paul's speech before Agrippa." "Well," said he, 
"If you mean by Christianity to be a gentleman, and to 
do as you would be done by, I suppose I am a Christian, 
for I have always aimed at this, but I don't believe in 
any of your narrow, bigoted notions, your Puritanism, 
that cants and snivels ; I despise it." " So do I," was 
the reply. " Well, Mister, you're my kind." " No, don't 
say this until you hear me through. I did not say to be 
a gentleman is all of Christianity; but if a man is a gen- 
tleman, he received his ideas for his conduct in his re- 
lations to others from Christianity." " Do you think so ?" 



MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 1 1 3 



said he. " I thought this came from good breeding, 
and from the advantages of society." " This can 
not be," was the reply ; " for have you not seen 
among the humblest and most obscure men, acts of 
nobility that would have put to shame the convention- 
alities of society?" "Yes/ 5 said he, "I have; there is 
the place to find sincerity." "How, then, can they be 
gentlemen, according to your idea. Don't you see that 
your definition pertains to the effect, rather than the 
cause?" He was silent. " Another reason which led me 
to ask you if you were a Christian was the familiar use 
you made of the name of the Christian's God ; I knew 
you were not a heathen." " Xow, Mister, don't get into 
cant," said he, "You are getting too pious." " No, I am 
not saying this to rebuke you, but giving my impres- 
sions. You must have been made familiar with the name 
and character of God in your childhood ; you, no doubt, 
had Christian parents, either Protestant or Catholic ; no 
difference as to that, none other train their children to 
know so much as you. I heard you say, 'By Christ;' 
you must have learned that name in your childhood." 
"Oh, I don't believe in churches," said he; "I am a 
free-thinker. We Germans don't believe such stuff. " 
"Then why don't you drop the names and ways 
of Christianity. If I believed in nothing, I would 
not use the vernacular of Christianity." "Say, Mis- 
ter, will you join us in our game? the fellows are 
waiting. I must either go to them, or call them here 
to your preaching." " Well, you bring them here, and 



114 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



let's have a free and easy chat; I don't know how to 
play cards." Said he, " You ought to learn, for you 
would make a 6 corner 9 every time as you say you 
don't know about cards, I will use commercial phrase." 
He signed to his companions, and three of them came. 
Said he, " Here is a man who has the queerest notions 
on religion I have heard yet. If he is right, there 
is a chance for us. He says if a man is a gentle- 
man he is half a Christian. I never thought there 
was so much common sense in the thing; go on and 
let us hear some more about it. What is the name 
of your sect?" "I am a Presbyterian." " Good heav- 
ens! the w T orst of them all — let's go." "No," I said, 
" That is not fair, you have already said you liked my 
ideas about a gentleman being a Christian; as far as that 
goes, I am going to treat you as a gentleman, and I know 
you were born in a Christian family, and candor is a 
Christian grace. You men tell me all about your parents 
and childhood." "Mister," said he, "That is a sore 
point with me; I don't like to think of it, but as you say 
candor is a Christian grace, I might as well go that far. 
My father and mother were Lutherans, and my mother 
was one of the best out of heaven. She did not stay long 
with me ; I was the youngest, and she died when I was 
twelve years old. I can remember her now, praying 
for me and teaching me; that was a dark day when 
we carried her to the ' Kirche,' and buried her by it" 
And here he grew silent, and the silence gave an oppor- 
tunity to ask if he did not believe that she was better 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



115 



for her Christianity. " Oh yes," said he, " but I have 
never found one like her ; it was the natural goodness of 
her heart." " But she never told you that." " Xo, she 
said she got help from God." " Why don't you believe 
her? don't you think that she would know as much 
about it as you ? Well, then, how did you get on after 
her death ?" " I was put in what they called an or- 
phanage, a place where prayers and the cudgel meant 
the same; the more they would pray, the harder they 
would beat." " And this is what has set you against 
your mother's religion ?" " Well, yes." " Well, which 
is worthy of the most confidence, the selfish and cruel 
managers of an orphanage, or the Christian people who 
cared for the orphan neglected by the world, and hoped 
that their gifts after they were dead might be a blessing 
to poor, homeless children, and were deceived? Were 
yon never deceived by others when 3~ou wanted to do 
right ? And now be honest, and tell me if you know 
of an orphanage or asylum for the neglected, which the 
haters of religion ever built. You are an intelligent 
man, do you know of one?" "Xo." "Well, then, 
why don't you do justice to even the imperfect efforts 
that Christian men and women are making, when they 
are the only ones doing anything practical for humanity. 
Hating the best thing we have is not wise, or even 
humane. If you will listen to me I will tell you a story 
of a little girl wdiose soul was set by Christianity to help 
the needy and neglected." The story was repeated with 
as much pathos as possible, and when it was finished he 



116 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



was asked if he thought his notion of life would produce 
anything like that ? He said, he feared not. " Have 
you children ?" And this opened a grave before him 
without intending it. His only daughter had died in 
his arms; and, said he, " This was the hardest of all: My 
wife, who professes to be a Christian, can bear it, and 
says the Lord did it for the best, but I don't think so; 
I can't forgive God." " You and your wife have dif- 
ferent ideas; which do you believe is the best in the sor- 
rows of life ?" " Oh, my wife's way is the best, but I 
can't come into it." Turning to his companions, he 
saicl, "Let's chip in and give this man something , for 
his church. He is not one of those canting fools; he 
talks common sense. And I want him to stop talking 
to me, or I will make a foci of myself." They each 
gave live dollars, and wished that they might have been 
able to make it more. "And now, Mister, tell us what 
you are, a lawyer, I suppose; you are too sharp to be a 
preacher." "Just dumb enough to be a Presbyterian 
preacher," was the reply. " Well, do those straight- 
laced fellows have anything to do with common-sense 
men like you, who talk to such sinners as me? We 
guess that you are a kind of bushwhacker in your pro- 
fession, making your living at something else, going 
around knocking down the loose ones just for pastime." 
" No, a regular in the ranks." " Then why do you wear 
store clothes like other sinners. If you had been in 
preacher clothes we would not have troubled you; and," 
said the ringleader, "I would not have asked you to 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 117 



take a hand." " This is the very reason we don't. The 
Lord did not dress differently from those with whom He 
associated, and He was the friend of publicans and sin- 
ners. To put on preachers' clothes is like belling a rat ; 
every other rat within a mile will run away from him." 



CHAPTER XV. 



The journey to Montreal was in compliance with an 
engagement to occupy the pulpit of Dr. Jenkins for sev- 
eral weeks. The weather was intolerably warm during 
the day, and having sweltered in a heavy black , gown 
through several Sabbaths, the sexton, on the one follow- 
ing, thought he would make it a little more comfortable, 
so he said, "You may take off your coat and vest, and 
I will put the gown on without the sleeved jacket." 
His plans were accepted in good faith, but the amaze- 
ment of the congregation, and the half-suppressed smiles, 
and even titters from the usually solemn and devout, re- 
vealed to the wearer that every time the arms were 
lifted the gown dropped back, exposing shirt sleeves and 
suspenders, and these without possibility of covering re- 
treat. Gesticulation was suppressed that day, and the 
preacher, too, for that matter, wishing to be able to charter 
an auger hole for at least a fortnight. 

The sensations experienced on this occasion were simi- 
lar to those of a classmate in College, who, at a large 
and fashionable entertainment, had received his oyster- 
soup in a bowl, and that on a plate upon a napkin. An 
awkward waiter ran against him, spilling its contents 
over his best clothes, throwing the bowl and fixtures on 
the carpet. He said not a word in his first consterna- 
tion, but partially recovering himself, threw up his hands, 
118 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 119 



exclaiming, " I wish I were dead !" The exhibiting of 
the shirt was not all of the calamity that befell the Pas- 
tor in his consternation. In leading the people in the 
Lord's prayer, he broke down, and the congregation had 
to finish it as best they could. This, too, was the day 
when the story of the box was fitted into the sermon as 
its chief and most effective illustration, but the pathos 
had gone out before the vision of the white shirt and 
suspenders, and when the amen of the Benediction was 
over, he stole back into the vestry, as a whipped spaniel 
to his kennel, mad at the sexton, disgusted at Canada and 
himself. And when humility comes, God helps. The 
Beadle came, bringing an Englishman to be introduced, 
whose face was livid, fringed with thin, white whiskers, 
but within was a great English heart. He spoke well 
of the sermon, and said he had come to ask more about 
the little girl, and to see and handle the box of coins, 
that he might tell it to the children of the parish when 
he went home ; and as he handled and heard, the tears 
started in his eyes, as he said, " Wonderful." He took 
from his purse two sovereigns, and said, " Old England 
must be represented in this church, and don't forget that 
there will be British hearts praying for your success." 
Then as he turned away, he said, " What kind of fashion 
is this you have in America of putting a gown on over 
a shirt? Upon my word, sir, if the sermon had not been 
good, the people would have lost their reverence alto- 
gether." Many of the church contributed, the Beadle 
with the rest, and what was better, he gathered the 



1 20 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



offerings together and sent them, and he was not only 
forgiven, but blessed. While on this northern journey, 
the leadings of Providence were into a comparatively 
obscure place, where there was a Presbyterian Church, 
in which were several Scotch families, the genuine in 
faith, and knowledge, and love of the traditions of their 
fathers, and simplicity of life. Some of these lived on the 
highlands, and kept flocks of sheep, as in the fatherland. 
A lad belonging to one of these heard the story of the 
box and the church, and it took hold of his young heart. 
He could have said, " Silver and gold have I none, but 
such as I have give I." He asked if his pet lamb would 
be received toward the accomplishment of the work. The 
reply was, "Yes," with little thought that anything 
further would come of it, supposing it to be only a child's 
whim. But early on Monday morning he was down 
from the hills with an older brother, leading the lamb 
by a string, ready to deliver it according to promise. It 
was his all. He had rescued it from death in the snow, 
had brought it into the house and warmed and fed it into 
life, watched over it until now it was more than six 
months old. He will stand the peer of the one who gave 
all, or the other, who " Did what she could." 

The heart of the host was touched by the behavior of 
this boy. Though having given liberally himself, he said ? 
" My lad, how much is your lamb worth ?" " Father 
said it was a Southdown, and was worth six dollars.'' 
" Then," said he, " I will pay six dollars for you, and 
yon can take your lamb home, and this will teach you 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 121 



the meaning of the redemption of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who purchased us, not with silver and gold, but 
with His own blood." This was not the only gift of a 
lamb ; the little son of Hon. D. B. Judson, of Kings- 
boro, JT. Y., whose heart was touched in the same way, 
gave his also, the equivalent of which was given by his 
father. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Saratoga is a place/ in the minds of many, full of 
evil, and given over to pleasure and frivolity. But there 
is no watering place where there is more genuine piety 
and more of double-handed liberality. In no place of 
the kind, in this country, do so many people go to church, 
and go expecting to be called upon to give, for the Saratoga 
churches are chronically impecunious, as are almost all 
churches so situated. The congregations which have to 
support them nine months in the year are weak ; besides, 
they have to build larger churches than their own needs 
demand, to provide for the guests in summer, and 
whether needy or not, they always lay hold on the guests, 
and with equitable claims, since they turn these places 
of worship over to the strangers during the summer. 

The Presbyterian Church was in debt twelve thousand 
dollars, and in danger of losing its elegant place of wor- 
ship, as the Congregationalists had done that year. 
Great efforts had been made by its Pastor, Rev. Dr. 
Stryker, to lift this dangerous debt, but in vain. 

While in Saratoga, this subject came into conversa- 
tion with Rev. Dr. Roberts, of Elizabeth, N. J., while 
on the veranda of the United States Hotel. He said, 
""Why don't you ask Alexander and Robert Stuart 
to help you ?" The reply was, " We don't know 
Mr. Alexander Stuart, and have only a slight ac- 
quaintance with Mr. Robert Stuart." "No matter," 
122 



MITES A GA IXS T MIL L IONS. 1 23 



said he, u They are men of large means and heart, and 
are interested in church building. There is Alexander at 
the end of the veranda ; I will introduce you. " He did so. 
and it was one of the surprises of life, for he was so strangely 
different from what he had been imagined to be. A small 
man, but little else than skin and bones, asthmatic, and 
tugging at a stramonium segar for breath, dry and abrupt 
in manner, but lurking in those small eyes was a world 
of sharp wit, and constant flashes of humor. He was 
one of the shrewdest of men — few could equal him in 
repartee — and he was as angular as sharp. Woe unto the 
man who did not impress him favorably, if any bene- 
faction was wanted. But he was the kindliest of men at 
heart. He would test those who approached him for 
money, until he knew their metal. The time was spent 
pleasantly, but no reference was made to the work in 
hand, the conviction being early formed that if anvthin£ 
could be done, it must be done by judicious indirection. 

The next day he sent his servant to the hotel where 
the Pastor was, with a letter from Dr. Stryker, of Sara- 
toga, asking help from the Stuart brothers, toward the 
extinguishment of the debt on the Presbyterian Church, 
The messenger said, "Mr. Stuart's compliments; he 
wishes you to read this letter and tell him how many 
snakes there are in it." It was a confounding request. 
The reply was, "Tell Mr. Stuart that Dr. Stryker is well 
known, being a neighbor in Philadelphia, and he would 
not intentionally make a mistake ; that some of the 
things that Mr. Stuart does not understand are explain- 



124 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



able, but it would take too much time now to make them 
clear in writing." The servant came back with an in- 
vitation to go to drive at four o'clock, which was accepted, 
and immediately the work of investigating the affairs 
of the Saratoga Church was begun, to be ready to answer 
his inquiry in the afternoon. 

It was an impression upon the mind of the Pastor 
that if he could be persuaded to give to the Saratoga 
Church in its perils, the necessities of the new effort 
would come after. So the plan adopted as best suited 
to the man was to work beyond self, and not to 
mention the chapel in Philadelphia except in the 
most incidental way, or, if possible, to get him to 
ask about it. The subject of the debt of the church 
in Saratoga came up according to agreement. He 
had conceived the idea that there had been decep- 
tion in its management. The Messrs. Stuart had given 
liberally when it was completed, in the impression that 
it would be clear of debt ; and this enormous debt was 
both surprising and irritating, and he had made up 
his mind that he would not give a dollar. But there 
were mitigating facts of which he knew nothing. After 
the subscriptions were taken to pay for this church, that 
part of this congregation afterward organized into a 
Congregationalist Church withdrew, and their subscrip- 
tions were lost, making a deficit for which the church 
could not be blamed. Other facts were given in their 
behalf, but none of them moved him. He said he would 
rather contribute to a new building for the strangers 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



125 



alone. The cost was quickly set before him, and that it 
could not be done for less than fifty thousand dollars, 
while the church in our hands was worth more. Six 
thousand dollars being contributed from outside, the 
congregation would raise the other six thousand dollars, 
and at least fifty thousand dollars would be saved. He 
asked, u Where did you get your business sense ? Preach- 
ers have no common sense; you seem to understand busi- 
ness. I guess you must be a poor preacher. The two 
don't go together/' The reply was, what little knowl- 
edge possessed was gained in building churches and 
begging the money, and that it is easier to save the money 
than to beg it. "What churches have you built?" 
His question being answered about the time and places, 
this brought the long desired occasion to tell it all. He 
asked, " AVhat are you doing now ?" The story was told 
incidentally, half indifferently, as if it were a matter of 
little consequence. But he would interrupt and ask par- 
ticulars ; the box was shown at his request; he looked at 
it and asked how many coins were in it, and how far the 
work had progressed. The reply was, " The roof is on." 
" How big is it ? What kind of stone ? One or two 
stories ?" " It was built two stories. First, because it 
saves ground; second, because it will be above the noise 
of the street ; third, because light and air are unobstructed, 
and because the young make the largest part of any 
church, and they need as much room for Sabbath-school 
purposes, etc., as the regular congregation. " "How 
many scholars have you?" He was told the number. 



126 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



and that one half of them could repeat the Shorter Cate- 
chism. " What !" said he. The statement was repeated, 
to which he said, " Uncommon." 

No more was said, and other matters engaged our 
thought. It was not possible even to guess whether he 
cared anything about it. But the grist had been put in, 
and it was his place to do the grinding. Before night 
his servant appeared again, bringing the request of Mr. 
Stuart that the box and its possessor would be in his 
parlor to tell the history to some lady friends he had in- 
vited to be present, the central figure being Mrs. 
Robert Stuart. Here the story was told, and every 
possible fact brought out, in which they all seemed to be 
interested. During the evening the subject of the Sara- 
toga Church was pressed, appealing to his loyality to the 
great Church and its head, who would suffer if Presby- 
terianism should have no house of worship in Saratoga. 
Before leaving, he said he would give the subject atten- 
tion, which he did. He and his brother, and others of 
their friends, lifted the church from its embarrassments 
during the following autumn. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The autumn and winter following were full of events, 
mostly prosperous. The women of the mission had in- 
terested their friends in other churches in a fair, which 
was held in October. The toil and self-denials of these 
women for this work, from the beginning, can not be 
adequately recorded. It is the regret of this history that 
names can not be given, for there are too many of them, 
but their sacrifices extended to their homes and ward- 
robes. They are more than the peers of the women of 
Moses' time, who brought their looking-glasses ; these 
gave not only ornaments, but necessaries. 

This fair was carried on, above reproach, for a week. 
There was no sharp practice, no post-office shams, no 
chancing, no deceptions ; their goods were sold at fair 
value, and netted sixteen hundred dollars. The Xorth 
Presbyterian Church wrought nobly, and have a mem- 
orial of their work in an elegant stained-glass window, 
twelve by twenty-nine feet, in remembrance of the de- 
ceased son of their pastor, Rev. B. L. Agnew, D.D. 

Many of the Alexander, the mother church, wrought 
also with enthusiasm to the completion of this work. 
One of the windows of the new structure, twelve by 
twenty-nine feet, bears testimony to their share In the 
struggle and victory. The inscription upon it is to the 
departed workers in the Sabbath-school of the Alexander 
Church, and was secured through the efforts and benefi- 

127 



128 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 



cence, largely, of Dr. Ruel Stewart, the superintendent 
of the Sabbath-school. 

Another beautiful window, over the pulpit, was pre- 
sented by a worthy member of this church, in memory 
her father, Jeremiah Kershaw, a well-known elder and an 
active Christian in New Jersey. Two others, Mr. Adam- 
son's and Mr. Hogg's, have been referred to before. 

The last window, twenty by thirty-two feet, has a 
history both of the living and dead. It is commemora- 
tive of the departed sons of Franklin Baker. This 
young father was a careless young man on everything 
pertaining to religion. When the Pastor was engaged 
with his people in the erection of the Cohocksink Church, 
he was one of a company of young men who disturbed the 
afternoon session of the Sabbath-school in ball-playing 
on a vacant lot near the rear of the church, when it became 
a question whether the church authorities would not se- 
cure their arrest. But better counsels prevailed, and 
one of the members of the church went out and invited 
them into the school. A part of them came, among 
them this* young man ; he soon gave his life to 
Christ, and has been in His service since. He identi- 
fied himself early with the mission, and has been a 
worker and a generous giver, and is now a member of 
the Session, and a teacher of a large adult Bible class. 
The three large transom windows over the outside doors 
are the testimonials of a grateful church to the noble 
churches in Kingsboro, Gloversville, and Johnstown, 
N. Y. The Presbyterian Church of Kingsboro, and the 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 129 



Congregational, of Gloversville, gave every year, from 
the beginning to the completion of the work, and at the 
day of dedication the Hon. D. B. Judson was present 
to represent them. 

The only other window was put into its place by Mrs. 
Anna Allen, who has, with her family, been identified 
with the work from its inception, in memory of her two 
daughters, members and worshipers and givers to its 
needs. These precious ones lived to see it under roof, 
but not long enough to realize their hopes to be permitted 
to worship within its finished walls. 

The work of the autumn was in preparing the first 
story for church and Sabbath-school purposes. Every 
nerve was strained to this end, for the place occupied 
was in storm but little better than out of doors. Often 
scholars sat with the rain dripping down upon them 
during school, and vessels would be set over the floor to 
catch it during preaching. The work was pushed on 
with little money ; the people would come in after the 
labors of the day, and work till ten o'clock, sometimes 
later, at anything that could be done. Of these it is 
simple justice to mention Mr. Shaw, now a worthy 
deacon, and Mr. Kenney, who spent all the time he 
could spare from his business; their examples inspired 
others, so that a half dozen volunteers would be at work 
at once. Many of the city pastors took an unusual in- 
terest in this work. Dr. Addison Henry contributed him- 
self, and went about amongst those of his acquaintances 
with the Pastor, until five hundred dollars were raised. 



130 



MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 



Dr. John DeWitt, in personal gifts, and in efforts in other 
directions, rendered invaluable services through these 
years ; for these offerings of constant interest and help 
wherever opportunity offered, this church is grate- 
ful, the Kingdom of God richer, and the world better. 
Rev, Dr. Stephen Dana was not only a contributor, 
but induced others to give, as was also Dr. Dickey, 
of Calvary Church, Rev. Thomas, Drs. Logan, of 
Scranton, Stuart Mitchell, of Bloomsburgh, Hawes, 
of Hartford, Conn., having incidentally heard of the 
work, wrote for the facts, and sent an offering from him- 
self and people. Dr. Theodore Cuyler invited the Pas- 
tor to occupy his pulpit and present his cause, and 
commended it and from him and his noble people 
help was received at a time when the work was almost 
penniless. Multitudes of ministerial brethern did all 
possible, according to their abilities. Some were weighed 
down in kindred interests, but helped in their constant 
faithfulness to this cause. Some assisted by filling our 
pulpit, giving their services, whose worth God only can 
compute. But one name remains to be spoken of in 
reverence and sorrow — Rev. Dr. William O. Johnstone, 
pastor of the Kensington Presbyterian Church. His 
heart opened to every good and needy cause, and his 
substance went alike to its help. No amount of personal 
discomfort would deter him. He went from place to 
place with the Pastor, using his personal influence to 
solicit funds in the exigencies of this work. Hundreds 
of dollars were secured through his personal efforts in 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 131 



storms of snow and drenching rain, caring for naught 
but the victory at the end. He was loved by his people 
for his great heart and sheltering arms, and in every im- 
portant step in their progress he was expected to be 
present. He moderated the call for the Pastor when 
the church had been organized. He lived to see this 
work crowned with the success he had so long prophe- 
sied for it, and in connection with the dedication of the 
church, delivered the charge to the Pastor ; one of the 
most comprehensive of the duties of this trust, one of 
the most comforting in it, terse and yet elegant, aglow 
with the love of the Great Teacher, that was ever delivered 
or heard. He has now gone to his rest, full of labors, 
lamented by thousands. His place still gaps, and it will 
be years before nature and grace conspire to produce 
a man so useful and noble. 

The departed Gustavus Benson belongs to the roll of 
honor. * He gave through years cheerfully, as did others 
of this worthy Eldership of TTest Spruce Street Church, 
whose pastor's heart was full of hope and help for us. 
Dr. Shepherd's Eldership was represented by two elders, 
one of whom was John B. Stephenson. Bethesda — 
Dr. Eva's — by James Irwin. Blessed in its timeli- 
ness, which brought gladness to conquer desperation, 
was the benefaction of our old parishioner, James 
McManus, as also that of Mr. McDowell, of the 
firm of Jessup & Moore. Nor can we pass our 
own heroic band, always giving, always hopeful and 
prayerful. Men, women, and children ; young men 



132 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



and maidens, working with unconquerable energy in 
every form of the ingenuities of love. They came into 
this mission to work and give. We might recount in- 
cidents that would command admiration, were it not 
for the delicacies surrounding family life, and the limita- 
tions of secret offerings. The following will sample the 
whole. The Pastor had gone to preach for a church in 
the country, having the privilege of the pastor, Rev. Dr. 
Roberts, of Coatesville, Pa., to present his cause. Dr. 
Roberts was, by exchange, in our pulpit. 

After his sermon, one of the brethern arose and spoke 
of the Pastor's absence, and of his heavy responsibilities, 
and said, " Brethren, while he is away toiling for us, let 
us raise a thousand dollars for the work, to be a surprise 
on his return on Monday morning." And tnus, com- 
ing back with an offering from the Coatesville Church, 
generous according to ability and demand, he was con- 
founded at what his own had done, for he thought they 
had given the last dollar that either duty or ability could 
find. 

On another occasion he was asking his congregation 
for help, and they were astonishing him in their gifts, 
when a gentleman who had seen better days, who had 
once been able to give by the thousands, but had no 
more money, through the reverses of the times, took out 
his gold watch and insisted that what could be realized 
from it should be put into this work ever so near his 
heart. 

It is hardly necessary to speak of the spiritual con- 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 133 



dition of such a congregation, for as yet there was no 
organized church. The first story of the church was 
completed, and the hearts of the people were glad. 
Their faces showed it, their prayers told it, their songs 
breathed it with gratitude. The Sabbath-school in- 
creased. One said, " It seems to-day that I can under- 
stand the words of the Psalmist as never before, ' Return 
unto my rest, O my soul/ " There was another of those 
gracious seasons of refreshing, which marked every year 
of its history, and forty persons made profession of their 
faith. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

About the first of November a visit was made to 
New York, in the hope that something could be elicited 
from Mr. Stuart in the direction of help. A call was 
made at his residence, on Chambers Street, but he was 
not in ; but soon after an invitation came to dine with 
him, which was gladly accepted. Dr. Prime was also a 
guest, and on this occasion we learned more of Mr. 
Stuart's resources in wit and humor than had been con- 
ceived or thought in Saratoga interviews. His abilities 
were discerned to be of a high order. The dinner was 
one continuous sally between the two old friends, who 
had forty or fifty years of association to draw from. 
After the repast, and Dr. Prime had gone, the Pastor 
and his host were sitting by an old-fashioned fire-place, 
in which the coal was blinking bonnily. He began, 
" You are building a church." " Yes." " For people 
in moderate circumstances, I understand." "Yes," 
" Paying for it as you go ?" " Yes." " Don't owe 
anything ?" " No more than the week's wages to the 
hands." " Yes, yes, rich men like to go to churches out 
of debt." He was silent a moment, and then said, 
" Well, I must let you down easily. I think you are a 
pretty good specimen. But I know what you will do ; 
you will go away and say old Stuart would'nt give you 
anything, and that you don't have any respect for his 
religion." The reply was quick and sharp. " You have 
134 




MITES A GAINST MILLIONS, 135 



never been asked for a dollar, nor will you be. The 
subject would never have been mentioned but in reply 
to your questions. You were importuned to help the 
Saratoga Church out of its trouble, on the ground of its 
need to the Church at large, of which we both have the 
privilege and honor to belong. w He was silent again, 
and then said, u What you say is so; you have been un- 
selfish, and deserve help. If you will have your church 
entirely complete by the thirty-first day of December, 
I will give you five thousand dollars/' The Pastor said, 
" I can't express my gratitude, but it won't be possible 
to get the church done by that time. It is not plastered, 
and can not be in the freezing weather that will be 
upon us." "I won't change it," he said, " for that will 
be a very important period with me. If you can't get 
it done bv this time, I can't do anvthino- for vou. There 
will be a change in my affairs at that time." No more 
was said, and the conversation changed. " Farewell," 
was said, little thinking ever to meet him again. 

The work was pushed forward with the hope that he 
would relent, in view of the impossibilities in the case. 
AVhen the closing days of December came his confidential 
clerk, Mr. Delafield, wrote that he was Very ill, desiring 
the Pastor to come to Xew York immediately. But 
a funeral of a parishioner on the day following pre- 
vented, and when Mr. Stuart's residence was reached his 
consciousness was too far gone to hold an interview. 
Mr. Delafield said, " He has twice during the day 
asked for your presence." He fell asleep after great 



136 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



suffering, and a noble life was ended for time, full 
of blessed deeds. The Church at large has felt his 
absence, and the poor and needy have mourned his 
departure; the great benevolences of the Church thank 
God that he lived to bless his kind, and he died in the 
triumphs of hope; and this explains, no doubt, what he 
meant by the 31st of December being an important 
event in his life, beyond which he would make no en- 
gagements. 

It was another sad blow to the struggling ; hopes had 
been lifted so high, again to be dashed, as it appeared, 
to naught. He had made no written provision for this 
promise, and no legal obligation rested on any one to pay 
it, and it looked as if it were to be a repetition of the 
disappointments which had nigh driven to despair be- 
fore. Mr. Delafield knew the facts. Mr. Stuart had 
talked the matter over with him, and this was the 
slender thread on which the frailest hope could hang. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The time had now come for the organization of the 
church, and the Presbytery sent a committee, consisting 
of B. L. Agnew, D. D., Addison Henry, D. D., Rev. 
Mr. Malone, Moderator, and Elders Stewart and 
Stephenson, who fulfilled their mission by examining 
the certificates, amounting to about two hundred and 
fifty, most of them from the Alexander Church, as they 
had nearly all been received into this as the mother, 
while the new church was still a mission. The whole 
number of members from all sources amounted to two 
hundred and eighty. Captain W« W. Wallace and Wm. 
S. Ringgold were elected Elders. This history would be 
incomplete without a word about the work and service 
of Captain W. W- Wallace, Mr. Ringgold's work having 
been referred to in previous pages. Elder Wallace has 
been one of the most faithful and self-devoted of all 
the laborers in this undertaking ; casting in his lot 
at the beginning, he has never faltered. Day and 
night he has served in almost every capacity, teaching 
Sabbath-school, visiting the sick, soliciting money, 
sharing with his brethren the labors of caring for the 
flock, giving of his substance with unstinted hands, 
rejoicing in successes, and cheering the faint-hearted 
in reverses. The Pastor best gives relief to his sense 
of obligation in saying, that without his constant assist- 
ance he could not have gone forward with the work, 

137 



138 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



for as there was no corporation , and being a matter of 
individual responsibility, this Elder shared with him 
often the care as to the maturing: of the financial obliga- 
tions. He kept the books, as treasurer, with a precision 
that will show the direction of every dollar received and 
expended in the building. Besides, he is the treasurer 
of the congregation, and keeps an account with all the 
members contributing to fulfill their weekly engage- 
ments to the support of the church. This testimony is 
but voicing the appreciation of the entire congregation. 
Elder Stewart, who came into the session later, was with 
ns but little over a year, having gone into the ministry ^ 
and is now a successful pastor over the Presbyterian 
Church of Warsaw, Wisconsin. He was a great favorite 
in the church, personally, and on account of his faithful- 
ness in duty, ever ready to speak for the Master, to visit 
the poor and needy, and to comfort the sick and dying. 
No pastor ever had a better session than these chosen 
by the church, in its organization and after — Elders 
Wallace and Ringgold, Baker and Stewart. 

The government of this church includes the manage- 
ment of its finances. There is no charter and no legal 
trustees. 

Eight deacons were elected to carry out the con- 
ception of the work above expressed. From the 
mother church were received Mr. Warthman and Mr. 
James Shaw, bpth well qualified by age and Christian 
experience, and very acceptable to those composing the 
new organization. The other five were young men of 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 139 



piety and capacity as learners in their work. They 
were all ordained as evangelists to the destitute portions 
of the field, to hold meetings, to exhort or preach in 
houses, streets, market-houses, commons, in any place 
where they could get men to hear. Some of these 
young men have already appeared in the pages of this 
book in the line of duty, and, therefore, need no men- 
tion here. Dr. Graydon was, at the time of his ordi- 
nation, a teacher in the Sabbath-school and leader of 
its music, and has fulfilled the hopes of the church 
which called him. He has made self-denials to its sup- 
port in greater proportion than could be expected from 
one so young in his profession. William H. McCutcheon, 
a worker in the mission at its beginning, was one 
of the first band who gave themselves so entirely to its 
trials and successes. His holidays were devoted to 
scattering circulars, inviting people to the services, and 
gathering the children into the Sabbath-school. He 
was first a teacher and after succeeded to the superin- 
tendency of the primary Sabbath-school, where he has a 
school of about two hundred. He is not only a worker, 
but a giver. In every crisis in the church's history 
his presence and benefactions have been felt for good. 

The places of three who have gone from us have been 
filled by men efficient and devoted, Messrs. Crawford, 
Bucher, and J. W. Shaw. 

While the financial management of the church is in 
the hands of the session and deacons, there is a com- 
mittee of finance, consisting of two from the session 



140 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



and two from the diaconate, and two chosen by the 
congregation, members of the church ; the two chosen 
by the congregation were Chester F. Griesemer, a young 
man who made his profession of faith in the mission, 
and who has been one of our helpers from the begin- 
ning, admirably qualified in financial ability and man- 
ner for the place ; and the other, Mr. Crawford, who is 
now in the diaconate. The financial management is 
where it ought to be, and has worked successfully, and 
without friction. 

As there is no board of trustees, the property is 
secured to the Presbyterian Church by deed, and is held 
in trust by one trustee for the use of that congregation 
which shall worship in connection with ai\d under the 
care of the , General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church of the United States, and also under care of 
Presbytery of Philadelphia Central, and shall adhere to 
the Confession of Faith, its form of government and 
doctrinal symbols. 



CHAPTER XX. 



The government of this church will form an impor- 
tant part of its history, and to this end the conception 
of the office of deacon as it appears in the New Testa- 
ment, and as exercised in this church, may be surpris- 
ing. If it is Scriptural and reasonable, there need be no 
concern about this only apparent departure from common 
usage. 

It is a chronic perplexity in most Presbyterian 
churches what to do with the deacons. Many have 
freed themselves from it by having none. Hence this 
institution, coming into view in the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, and seeming to be necessary then, is practically left 
as one of the inexplicable things to be stowed away, as 
if among the mysteries of the Apocalypse — a mere pro- 
vision extraordinary to meet the necessities growing out 
of a church quarrel, and passing away with the subsi- 
dence of the murmurs of jealousy. In many churches, 
where loyalty to the requirements of our Form of Gov- 
ernment fills this office, it is a sinecure — the men not 
knowing what to do and the church not being able to 
tell them. In others it is their business to see about the 
collections, or carry food and other relief to any poor 
persons in the church. In the prevailing conceptions of 
the office and its duties it is hard to know why such an 

appendage has grown into the life of the church, alike 

141 



142 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



exasperating to the unfortunate incumbents and tor- 
menting to the church, the only comfort being, in 
many cases, that " they also serve who only stand and 
wait." 

Confession is here made that for years it was the 
perplexity of the ministry to know what to put the deacons 
to do, for it is a manifest defect to have ordained officers 
doomed to withering idleness ; besides, it opens the door 
for Satan to find employment for idle hearts and 
hands. The thought might have been indulged in, 
that it was a committee extraordinary, invested with 
special power for emergencies. But this can not be en- 
tertained when the fact is considered of the solemnity of 
their calling and their ordination, which does not differ 
from that of the apostles. Besides, in the Epistles to 
Timothy and Titus the office not only exists, but 
instructions are given that show that it is a permanent 
function of the Church, and these instructions as to 
qualification, conduct, and duties reach to their wives 
and children. The Episcopal Church has striven to 
meet the difficulty by making the office the first order 
in the ministry. But they have thus lost the special 
reason for a call to the diaconate — the care of the poor. 
The deacon in the Episcopal Church has not the duty 
of almoner of food to the hungry. He has one-half of 
what is conceived to have been the original purpose in 
the office — ministry to the spiritual needs of the poor. 

The conviction has compelled the view that diaconate 
has two essential elements — first, to be the custodians 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 143 



and distributors of the church's benefactions to all per- 
sons and causes dependent on the church's sacrifices ; 
second, that to them the poor in any particular church 
may apply for bread. It is the loving hand of the 
church representing its heart to the needy for the ne- 
cessities of life — food, shelter, care, and clothing ; but 
alongside of this, and essential to the true idea of the 
office, that it is charged and ordained to the care of the 
souls of this class who, by their poverty, infirmities of 
age, and sickness are often cut off from church privileges. 

To make the idea of the office clear in a few words, it 
is believed that the deacons should be the evangelists of 
the particular churches in which and by which they 
are called to serve — to preach the Gospel under the care 
of the session, wherever want, unbelief and sickness, and 
their disabilities have hindered men and women from 
coming to the services of God's house. They have 
charge of that moving tabernacle, on which ought to be 
carried along neglected courts and streets, to preach to 
the lost spirits, prison-bound, and to strike down deeper 
into human misery than the church establishment ad- 
ministered in the sanctuary can reach. 

Hence the diaconate in the Presbyterian Church, from 
the circumstances of its origin and the histories of the 
services rendered by Deacons Stephen and Philip, and 
by all more or less successfully to one or the other of 
these two functions of bodily or spiritual poverty. 

The great want of the Presbyterian Church has been 
such a supplemental agency between the ministry, edu- 



144 MITES A GAINST MILIIONS. 



cated according to the requirements of the Church, so 
wise and beneficial, and the work that godly laymen can 
do better, relieving the pastors of many unnecessary bur- 
dens, that they may give themselves to the more im- 
portant and indispensable duties of the ministry. 

Every pastor has felt the need of helpers, not merely 
voluntary and often fitful, depending on ebulitions of 
religious feelings, for which there is an abundant place, 
but an ordained company of men, full of the Holy 
Ghost, to look after all these needs. Men who will 
magnify their office as the church magnifies it for 
them — known of all men — witnesses to the truth, who 
can tell the story of the Cross as Stephen told the 
story of Redemption in the histories detailed of God's 
goodness to his fathers. What a loss the Presbyterian 
Church has sustained by not utilizing its piety, zeal, 
and learning ! We have men of the highest culture in 
our pews, who can, in the duties of business and pro- 
i fessional life, preach occasional sermons as well as the 
average minister, and some of them better. It would 
have saved to us noble talents consecrated to Christ 
which have wrought outside of the church, and some- 
times against it. If this had been the policy of the 
Church there would have been no need of Young Men's 
Christian Association preaching. The Church could have 
employed under her own direction all her surplus talent. 
In exalting the diaconate to its Scriptural place, the 
number of pastors would not need to be so great, and 
each would assume his proper place as a bishop, an 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 145 



overseer, an executive, a directing head, instead of 
wasting his long and painfully acquired abilities in 
" serving tables." 

If the Presbyterian Church has a weak spot in her 
Constitution it is the want of provision for ordained lay 
work. It has more educated, and as much consecrated 
lay talent as the Methodist Church, but it has not had a 
tithe of the effective service rendered. The strain of 
every kind of labor in our Church comes on the minis- 
ter. If the poor are to be cared for, the Pastor is ex- 
pected to do it, instead of directing it. If there is a 
destitute place in his parish-bounds that could be held 
and cultivated by his deacons, it is either left to him or 
to go to waste. The result of all this is the complete 
paralysis of an ordained force, whose place in the 
Church, given by solemn consecration, becomes a farce 
if they have nothing to do but carry an occasional bas- 
ket of provisions to some poor person. 

No office of the Church has ever perished in its his- 
tory. Why should this one? The Levitical priest- 
hood was not lost, but transferred ; the office to all be- 
lievers remained, though the service had changed to a 
spiritual one. If it should appear that the care of the 
poor was the specific reason of the original call of the 
Deacons they certainly rose above it, and as fair a pro- 
portion of these officers as of the apostles became eminent 
as evangelists. There must have been a wider meaning 
to the word " poor " than mere food destitutions. If 
such a meaning is possible it would be a blessing to 



146 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



those called ; it would unearth a surprising amount of 
talent and Christian culture; it would give restless spirits, 
who are restless because of their unused abilities, con- 
genial and useful employment ; it would bring all the 
vagrant forces of the Church within banks, in appointed 
channels ; it would furnish us with men for all our 
places — a disciplined <?orps of reserves ready for every 
demand. 

The Methodist Church has kept ahead in its mission- 
ary work. This Church has trod on the heels of the 
savage from the rising of the sun in this land of ours 
unto the going down of the same. Every school-house, 
and barn, and court-house, and cabin was dedicated to 
the extension of Christ's kingdom ; and the circuit-rider 
pushed on and squatted, and by " squatter-sovereignty " 
the Methodist Church has covered the broad places of 
this land. After the place was occupied the local 
preacher was ordained — the best man usually in the 
neighborhood, who knew more than the average of his 
neighbors — and he became high priest and oracle. 

The Presbyterian Church has had all this power, and 
better endowed within her own bosom, but it has re- 
mained in a comatose state. Instruments have been 
hers that could have turned the world upside down fof 
Christ, and could have held every spot in this land 
until the educated ministry could have moved on, with- 
out the enormous expense which our present methods 
require. With such a lay force as is provided in the 
diaconate one educated minister could have chased a 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



147 



thousand, and two could have put ten thousand to flight. 
This country was given to the Presbyterian Church in 
the beginning, but she set her face against an ignorant 
ministry, and rightly. Her first serious schism occurred 
when the Cumberland Presbyterians quit her com- 
munion because the destitutions of the Southwest were 
greater than her production of an educated ministry, but 
she never thought to look in her own standards for the 
ordained supply for these needs, by whom her destitu- 
tions could have been met and the members of her own 
body kept intact. It has been acting a policy as absurd 
as the government would if it should insist that West 
Point should change its manner in educating the higher 
officers, and should require sergeants and corporals and 
teamsters and the rank and file to be all graduates ere 
they could do duty in their country's perils. 

But it may be said, u In your ideal diaconate, what 
becomes of the other side of his office — the care of the 
poor ?" His work as an evangelist does not disqualify, 
but rather assists him, and if we consider the Church ac- 
cording to its Xew Testament conception, his financial 
abilities will find the fullest scope. Charters are for- 
eign to the life of the Church, and have often been the 
occasion of the secularizing it, and the putting Christ in 
His Church under the foot of Caesar. Trustees are fungi, 
and have no place in a church organization according to 
the New Testament ideal. They have no place in the 
pattern received from heaven, and our Church has al- 
ways had its standing protest against an institution that 



148 MITES A GAINS T MILLIONS. 



has no other existence except in legal enactments. This 
is not the fault of trustees, many of whom are among 
the best of men, but the fault is in putting legal re- 
straints on the spiritual organism, however remotely. 
The genius of the Church requires that all her functions 
be spiritual ; that the money that sustains her be a sa- 
cred sacrifice at the altar, and being such, ordained men 
ought to handle it 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Now came the hardest period of financial struggle. 
The building had progressed to a point at which the 
public felt that the congregation could finish it them- 
selves, forgetting that this heroic people had through five 
years been on a strain, and was now panting of exhaus- 
tion. The small benefactions had almost ceased, and if 
the church was to be finished it could only be by help 
from those who could give larger amounts. It seemed as 
if the time had come when the work would cease from 
general debility. The congregation began to feel that 
God's help only in some special way could bring the 
end of the undertaking, and here we touch one of the 
sources of supplies that has been occasion of personal 
comfort and gratitude to God for his unfailing interest 
in our work. It is with fear that offence may be given 
that this noble helper's name is revealed to the gratitude 
of our people and all lovers of the progress of the Re- 
deemer's kingdom. The excuse for doing so is that the 
Presbytery, to encourage others in the work, has asked 
a faithful history, which this would not be if one of the 
pillars were left out. In the beginning of the pastorate in 
the Alexander Church, during a stay at Cresson Springs, 
a friendship was formed with James McCormick, Esq., 
of Harrisburg, whose enthusiasm in Christ's cause drew 
the story of the child's bequest before it had taken 
any form of future good. He became interested in the 

149 



150 MITES 'A GAINST MILLIONS. 



fulfilling of this promise, and has watched its progress 
with an interest that has been substantially expressed 
again and again. His munificent gifts came in days 
when there appeared no alternative but to give up, and 
this continued and extended not only to the completion 
of the church, but to its furnishing, and it is but a poor 
relief to gratitude to God and His helpful children to tell 
it, for the history of the Church of Christ in the world 
is from the aggregation of such timely and continuous 
help of those who feel obligation for His great care. 
Thoughout this struggle it has been one of God's 
Providences in the extremes through which help came. 
A little letter came to the office of the Presbyterian in 
the hand and language of a child, written from Glovers- 
ville, N. Y. 

" We heard you tell in our church about the lit- 
tle girl who gave you the box of money to build a 
church. We had no money to give you. Our mamma 
is dead, and papa has hard work to take care of us. 
Brother and I asked him if we might send mamma's 
ring and sleeve-buttons to you to help build the church, 
and he said we might, and we want you to sell them 
and give it for us." 

From another child came a locket, the history of 
which we have no means of knowing; these treasures 
are still in our possession, to be used as the donors desire, 
when some of God's children, touched by the beauty of 
the sacrifice, will redeem them. The ministry is not 
without representation in this host who have reared 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS, 



151 



this monument. One poor home missionary said : 
" It's God's work, and I want my name among those 
who are building it up with their offerings, and I 
can spare twenty-five cents ; it's not much, but He 
can make it more." He is only one of a multitude 
whose names are written on this house in gifts, the best 
they could offer. The wife of a Congregationalist min- 
ister, from Vermont, with her sister, from Troy, contri- 
buted every year from the beginning, in Saratoga, where 
they visited during the season. In Chicago the Pastor 
preached, in vacation, during the time of the Knights 
Templar celebration. Hearing of the facts, strangers 
came with their offerings, some of them from the Pacific 
Coast, and one from Australia left his gift on the altar. 

In Dr. Xiceols' church, St. Louis, at the very begin- 
ning of the work, many, young and old, gave liberally 
after the account of the bequest was heard. The first 
were the little children of Judge Breckinridge, an 
honored Elder in this church. 

The spiritual condition, the most important factor in 
successful church building, was good. If the Spirit 
of God is present, it can command all the money needed; 
it opens new avenues, and those, too, that cold-hearted- 
ness has closed. It is a fatal mistake to neglect the 
spiritual interests of a church in building operations. 
A dissension and the dismissal of the Pastor or a divi- 
sion will be the result. Keep the temperature of 
life well up in prayer, and its works, and the house 
will go up without clink of tool or noise of ham- 



152 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



mer. More, love and life will build for eternity. The 
church had another awakening, beginning with the 
Week of Prayer, and an increase on profession of 
forty-eight. During those services a young carpenter, 
who had been employed for many months, was in- 
terested, and remained in conversation and prayer; the 
communion had passed, and too many have the im- 
pression that they can only unite with the church at 
such seasons ; this, no doubt, was the cause of his de- 
lay. One morning he went upon the scaffold to do some 
work, pointing the stones before taking down the scaffold. 
The Pastor was standing below. He had about two 
minutes* work to do, lifting a box and laying it , on the 
scaffold to enable him to reach the remaining work. 
The Pastor, seeing the danger, said ; " Billy, you are 
fixing a trap to hurt yourself ; get a board and fasten 
it, and don't stand on that box." At that moment a 
lady passing engaged him in conversation; looking 
up, a moment after, he saw Billy falling, head fore- 
most, a distance of twenty-five feet. His head was 
crushed on the pavement. His pulse never beat after. 
There had not been a case of serious injury from the 
beginning, and it seemed strange that within ten min- 
utes of the taking down of the last section of the scaffold- 
ing that this death should occur. It was a sad day to 
all, nor did it relieve this oppressed sense that he 
had brought it, by disregard of advice, on himself, 
Death is terrible under any circumstances, and espe- 
cially at the threshold of a church. But it was a com- 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 153 



fort to be able to say over his remains that he had 
given his heart to Christ ; and this was confirmed in a 
strange way. At the beginning a family belonging to 
the Episcopal Church moved into a house immediately 
opposite the chapel. Their oldest child, a son about 
ten years old, from the time they came, showed a persist- 
ent interest in everything pertaining to this mission and 
church building. He would not stay away. The Pastor 
frequently drove him off, fearing that he would be hurt; 
it did no good, and he was given up, on account of his 
persistence to see and help in all that was going on. 
He was a bright boy, one of the brightest and best. He 
was ready for any service or sacrifice. He had the 
capacity to comprehend and direct the mechanics in 
difficult undertakings, and young as he was, in putting 
up the great trusses to support the roof, when the fore- 
man became bewildered, he could point out to him the 
intended places for the timbers. There was no work 
in connection with this church that was menial to him. 
He would clean the floors of the chapel, bring coal, 
make fires, carry mortar, if need be ; he told the Pastor 
the week the church was completed, that there was no 
part of it on which his hands had not been laid. 

He was a Sabbath-school scholar, and his lessons 
were perfect. He was always at church, and would 
repeat or read his verse, when an opportunity was given, 
during the Friday night prayer-meeting. When he was 
about twelve years old he was convicted of sin and 
found a Saviour, and revealed the fact in a Godly life 



154 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



and conversation. He desired to unite himself with the 
people of God. But his parents, either on account. of 
his age or their want of Presbyterian sympathies, did 
not grant his request ; he was obedient to their wishes, 
cheerful and dutiful to home and church through a whole 
year of suspense, during which he said before every 
communion, " I wish mother would let me come into 
the church." After such a desire expressed repeatedly, 
his mother was waited upon by the Pastor, who found 
that his parents sympathized with him, and were only 
waiting to be assured that it was not a transient impulse. 
He was received to his great joy, and grew in grace and 
in all the elements of a noble young manhood, for both 
intellect and graces were beyond his years. His teacher, 
Mr. McCutcheon, was transferred from the class, in 
which he was a scholar, to the infant school as its super- 
intendent, and Horace Patton went with him as one of 
his aids. He grew here into the stature of manhood, 
though only sixteen. His mind and attainments kept 
pace with his body, for he was first in all his classes in 
the High School. He spent every leisure moment he 
could spare from study and home duty in the primary 
Sunday-school room, often into the late hours of the night. 
Everything about the church was dear to him ; he 
loved its stones and bulwarks strong. He would walk 
round it almost every day to look at it. He was as 
tender to the little ones as a mother, and to all of them 
he was a big, noble-hearted brother. 

When the superintendent was absent he would take his 



MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 155 



place, and never hesitate to open the school with prayer. 
He was as beloved by the lady assistants, Miss Napheys, 
Mrs. Liberton, Misses McGary an^I McCutcheon, and 
Mrs. Cox ; ever ready to serve, not by request, but by 
beautiful intuitions, refined by grace. Were it not for 
the sequel which will come at the close of this book, it 
would be improper, even though true, to speak thus of 
any young man. This breaking of the thread from the 
sad death of Billy is to bring out the facts of his 
spiritual condition. Horace had discovered that this 
humble carpenter, in some respects neglected because 
humble, was seeking light in the hope of consecrating 
himself to Christ. Horace's duties at school and home 
took much of his time, but he would come at noon 
to talk of salvation with Billy ; sitting by them- 
selves on a log beyond the church, as Billy in his noon- 
tide hour was eating his dinner, he instructed him 
with the ardor of a disciple who loved to bring 
men to Christ, that He might see the travail of His soul 
and be satisfied. Thus did this young Christian glorify 
his Lord, and so are we comforted in his fidelity about 
the salvation of poor Billy, who fell into eternity at the 
door of the church. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

The death of Mr. Stuart was a heavy blow ; even 

hope was faint as to whether we could get the ground 

paid for on which the church stood. We have already 

noted the fact that its title was in court, and a pretended 

friend was trying to involve it hopelessly to his own 

benefit. But there are no ray less days in God's moral 

world ; the difficulties are all in the mediums of vision. 

At this juncture a friend came to our aid, the mention 

of whose name will not give him any pleasure, but 

it will to the church for which we live. It may 

stimulate young men, by such examples of rising by 

diligence and capacity to where they have the ability 

to make God's people thankful and happy. Thomas 

Beaver, Esq., one of the very first friends the Pastor 

had the good fortune to call his own in 1866, had 

been in Europe during the early struggles in this 

endeavor. He knew but little about it, but even on 

this slight knowledge sent an offering for " Auld lang 

sine," as he said. But afterward learning its history 

and progress became a friend in need ; three times he 

came to our aid in these dark days, and it would be 

unpardonable personal ingratitude not to record it. It 

would be more unfaithful to a grateful church, which has 

prayed for him and his, not to record these obligations. 

This, with other smaller contributions, tided us over the 

spring until summer had come again, and the imposing 
156 



MITES A GAINST MILL IONS. 157 



structure proclaimed the fact that we were on the home 
stretch. But our chronic grief was, that while the 
building was being paid for, that mortgage of seven 
thousand dollars clung like the shadows of death to us, 
for alread) r two had gone who had promised that this 
burden would be removed. 

One of the warmest days of July a visit was made to 
New York City, why it would be hard to tell, unless to 
see our old friend, Dr. Henry R. Wilson, of the Board 
of Church Erection, thinking he could, in the fertility 
of his love for the great cause, make at least some hope- 
ful suggestions. He was not without comfort for us. He 
said Mr. Robert L. Stuart, the brother of the lamented 
benefactor, Alexander, had been in the day before, and 
he had talked with him about the promise of his brother, 
and that his son, Rev. Henry M. Wilson, had given 
him a picture of the church, which had interested him 
sufficiently to make him ask several pertinent questions. 
Mr. Delafield, a man in whose integrity these brothers 
had confidence, knew of the promise of Mr. Alexander 
Stuart, and explained it and the circumstances to his 
brother. Through these influences and Mr. Robert L. 
Stuart's own interest in the cause of Christ, together 
with his desire to fulfill any promise of his beloved 
brother, he did more than even his brother had promised. 
He came to Dr. Wilson's office and said to him, "If you 
are satisfied that all is right about this church and will 
see that the conditions of security required by the Board 
are given, I will add two thousand to the amount prom- 



158 



MITES AGAINST MIL I IONS. 



ised by my brother, and satisfy the mortgage of seven 
thousand." Joy was master that day, for it was gener- 
ous and timely, and, in answer to prayer, God redeemed 
the promise of another servant of His who did not live 
to do it himself. The papers were telegraphed for, and 
within two days the church was without debt, either on 
ground or building. 

The vacation of that year was without shadow, and 
all that was received for preaching or by gifts was toward 
the last struggle. The autumn opened full of hope. 
The church was in a good spiritual condition; the people 
rallied again ; the women of the church, ever in the 
front rank, were now ahead iu their clever devices to 
raise the last amount. The Pastor and one of the mem- 
bers, Mr. James Stinson, agreed to procure the money 
for the carpeting, if the church would raise the balance 
of the funds necessary to complete the building, an 
undertaking which might have lagged if the church had 
not given the tonic necessary in fulfilling their part of 
the engagement. ' Over thirteen hundred yards of carpet- 
ing of the best quality was no holiday undertaking; 
but the carpet dealers of Philadelphia undertook it, 
one of whom was Mr. Stinson. Factory after factory 
was visited, and sometimes those who had given doubled 
their subscriptions, and so the heavy work went on, 
and the floors of this large church were covered by the 
choicest ingrain body Brussels and Wilton. The pews 
are cushioned in English damask, secured by our faithful 
co-worker, Elder Wallace, through a New York mer- 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



159 



chant and importer; and the hair for stuffing was the 
gift of Mr. Wm. M. Singerly, the proprietor of the 
Philadelphia Record. Another of the joyous reminis- 
cences in this connection was an invitation to preach in 
the church of Rev. Dr. Vandervere, in which Mr. 
Hardenburg is an elder. This noble old Dutch Re- 
formed Church, so called because its history is in its 
old name, gave liberally, its mission, too, joining, and 
both are on the roll. Elder Hardenburg was present at 
the opening services, bringing salutations, which were 
given in a stirring speech. 

In the last efforts toward the furnishing the pressure 
was very heavy, but here, as ever, friends came to our 
aid. James Spear, Esq., heard of our last efforts while 
on the piazza of the Grand Union Hotel, Saratoga, and 
proposed to complete our heating apparatus, consisting 
of two handsome grates and a large and expensive heater. 
The beautiful tiling, so much admired, around the grate 
was furnished and set by former parishioners in the 
Cohocksink Church, Messrs. Sharpless <k Watts. In 
the constant need of lumber a former parishioner in the 
Alexander Church, Charles Blanchard, Esq., made a 
large donation ; and in this line were also Messrs. Xeeley 
and Malone. A most timely offer was received in this 
emergency from Mr. Selden Walkley for himself and 
wife as a memorial of their conversion to Christ and re- 
ception into the Alexander Church, and the baptism of 
their two sons by the pastor, which has become a sad 
memorial of the death of the younger. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



This building is of the most substantial character ; 
the exterior is of Lumber ton granite, fronting on Mont- 
gomery Avenue 126 feet, on Bouvier Street 100 feet; 
having a spire on the north-east corner 136 feet high, 
70 feet of which is French hammered glass, the only glass 
steeple in the world, which at night can be illuminated. 
A stone tower on the north-west corner is 110 feet high. 
The structure is Gothic in style of architecture, and has 
a stained-glass window, one of the largest known, 20 by 
50 feet, and five others 20 by 30 feet. It is two stories, 
the first about 16 feet high, has a lecture-room and seven 
class-rooms. The second contains a beautiful audience- 
room, with eigh£ vaulted gables, with flying arches, con- 
verging to two points, supported by marble columns. 
The interior is finished throughout in oak and walnut, 
the interstices of the ceiling of sky-blue, flecked with 
stars, with chamfers gilded. A gallery extends around 
three sides, 16 feet wide, the front of which is defended 
by a nickel-plated rod and standards. It is semi-cir- 
cular, with a parquet circle ; fronting the audience are 
two fire-places, with grates and mantel-pieces, one on 
each side of the pulpit, for heat and ventilation. The 
upholstery is of scarlet English damask ; the carpets of 
the best quality, the pulpit in Wilton, aisles in Brussels, 
and the body in ingrain, nearly 1400 yards. The 
central chandelier is a work of art, the original cost of 



MITES A GAINST Ml I LIONS. , 1 61 



which was over $1500. The walls are frescoed in fine 
taste. The height of the audience-room from floor to 
apex is 59 feet. It will hold about sixteen hundred 
people. Attached to the church is a house for the sex- 
ton, containing eight rooms and the Pastor's study. The 
ground and buildings cost about $60,000, and its present 
value is estimated at $75,000 ; this includes one of 
Roosevelt's best organs, with a capacity of forty-four 
couplings. 

The dedication services began on Sunday, November 
12, by a sermon from the Pastor, from the text Luke 
vii. 5, " For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us 
a synagogue." The afternoon services at 4 o'clock 
consisted of addresses by the Revs. George Wiswell, 
D.D., Matthew Newkirk, D.D., L. P. Hornberger, 
of the Baptist Church, and by Hon. D. B. Judson, of 
Kingsboro, N. y. The evening sermon was by the Rev. 
H. C. McCook, D.D. On Monday evening addresses 
were made by the Rev. Drs. Breed and Wis well. On 
Tuesday evening the sermon was by the Rev. Professor 
Patton, D.D., of Princeton, with Revs. W. H. Hodge 
and Dr. Robbins conducting the opening services. On 
Wednesday evening an able and interesting address on 
the " Relation of Temperance to Business " was delivered 
by Hon. D. B. Judson. On Thursday evening the ser- 
mon was by the Rev. S. M. Hamilton, pastor of the 
Scotch Presbyterian Church, New York. On Friday 
evening preaching by the Rev. J. S. Mcintosh, of the 
Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. On Sab- 



162 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 

bath, November 19, the dedicatory sermon was preached 
by the Rev. Dr. Cattell. In the service at 4 P. M., 
addresses were made by the Rev. Drs. Agnewand Thomas 
X. Orr. The whole closed at the evening service with 
the installation of the Pastor, by a committee of the 
Presbytery Central, consisting of the Rev. J. S. Malone, 
Moderator, and Rev. Dr. Henry, who delivered the 
sermon. Rev. Dr. Cattell, of Lafayette, gave the charge 
to the people, and the Rev. Dr. Johnstone the charge 
to the Pastor. In addition to the brethren named above, 
the following were present and took part in the services, 
viz. : — Rev. Drs. Charles Brown, G. H. S. Campbell, 
C. E. Ford, J. H. McMonagle, J. H. Mtinro, Dr. W. 
M. Rice, W. D. Roberts, J. Ford Sutton, A. G. Mc- 
Auley, and altogether, better preaching and talking by 
ministers and laymen has not been heard than that 
which the people of the new Memorial Presbyterian 
Church, Eighteenth Street and Montgomery Avenue, 
had during those ten days. The secular press of Phila- 
delphia also rendered invaluable aid from the beginning. 

This is the result, substantial and splendid, of some 
years of hard work, of self-denial and faithfulness. 
The history of the enterprise from the day in which it 
was inspired by the words of the dying Christian girl 
to the point just reached is known to many of our 
readers, and may well encourage all who, in the face of 
difficulties and under the pressure of discouragements, 
are striving to advance the kingdom of Christ. The 
work is one that will stand and be an honor to those 



MITES AGAIXST MILLIONS. 



163 



by whom it has been so well accomplished. The pro- 
perty is now entirely out of debt, and the church starts 
on its career with a promise of usefulness. 

This history is but a record of surprises, most of 
which were in the church's best interest. When 
the time for dedication had come, there was needed, to 
clear all, over five thousand dollars, and the home 
stretch in all such movements is the hardest. The con- 
gregation had stripped itself of money, some families 
even of the necessaries for common comfort. Friends 
outside felt that having reached the end so nearly, this 
comparatively trifling sum could not stand in the way 
of final success. We could no longer beg, and were 
not able to give, and were nearer failure than at any 
time from the beginning. Dedication day was our only 
liope. The faithful congregation gave again in the 
morning service, but the sum did not reach the needed 
amount to keep the pledge made at the beginning, not to 
dedicate until absolutely free from debt, for the furnish- 
ing as well as the building. 

Again, at the afternoon service, an attempt was to be 
made to this end, and not without discouragement ; 
for the people outside who had money had not ap- 
peared as yet. The first sense of relief came in a sur- 
prise on a card from a friend who had given so liberally 
before that we could have no expectation of his giving 
again, Mr. James Hogg saving he would give five 
hundred dollars if we, by it, could raise the balance. 
As the collectors passed around during the services, we 



164 MITES AGAINST MILLIONS, 

had -another delightful surprise from a former parish- 
ioner of the Alexander Church, Mr. Wm, Wood, of 
five hundred dollars for himself and family. This was 
not the first gift from him. And his wife, now of sainted 
memory, had always remembered this church when it 
was a mission. They had contributed to its Sabbath- 
school expenses ; and to every application for help in the 
many little church devices to raise funds, they had re- 
sponded. This gift has taken the form of a precious 
memorial in the fact that it was probably the last gift 
as a united family. For soon after, Mrs. Wood entered 
into her rest, leaving a bereaved household and sorrow- 
ing friends, not only on account of her noble qualities, 
but for the loss to the cause of Christ, which she ever 
put before and above all, and these words are but a 
feeble tribute from one who had learned to appreciate 
her precious life as her Pastor for nine years, in which 
he read her character in sickness, in the loss of her 
children, and in her pity to the distressed, and loyalty 
to Christ and His Church. 

This hard-fought battle of poverty and adversity 
is over, and the people who struggled through all the 
years from June 1st, 1870, to the 17th of November, 
1882, have entered into their temple, without debt, 
and our noble benefactors can feel that their gifts will 
bless the race long after the hearts that have prayed 
and given have ceased to beat. 

Immediately after the dedication the Spirit of God 
was manifestly again in our midst. God put His seal upon 



MITES AGAINST MILLIONS. 



165 



the work in the Shekinah of His glory. Forty-eight 
were added, thirty-six by profession of their faith, not 
only from within the covenant enclosure, but out of the 
wider unfolding of God's promise : " To them that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." 
It is to the Pastor an unspeakable relief and comfort, 
that the engagement at the bed-side of that Christian 
child is fulfilled. Another monument to God's faithful- 
ness in what we sometimes think hopeless undertakings, 
"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; I will per- 
fect My strength in thy weakness." 

And now we have reached the first fruit gathered 
within the walls of this new temple. ATe have already 
given a section out of the life of Horace Patton, and 
now must tell the rest, and our record will be complete. 
Joy beamed on his noble face as he entered the building, 
all complete, whose every part had gone together under 
his own gaze. The dedicatory services were the first 
ray of a glorious sun-setting to him. His delight was 
evident as he came in with the two hundred little ones 
to the children's service, one of the noble workers who 
watched this flower garden of the church during the 
services of the Week of Prayer. All his thoughts turned 
to the salvation of his father and sister, whom he fondly 
loved, and who as yet had not made profession of their 
faith in Christ. He would come to the infant school- 
room and pray for them, that God would put His image 
in their hearts. They did not see their way clear to 
unite with the church then, but he had too much faith 



166 MITES A GAINST MILLIONS. 



in God's promises to be disappointed. He believed, and 
said to the Pastor that they would come, and cheerfully 
Avent on with his duties, little knowing how near they 
were ended, and when the Master to whom he was 
giving would say, " It is enough, come up hither and 
behold My glories." He came, almost daily, to his 
accustomed place, the infant school-room, and many 
wondered what attractions could be there for him, but 
it is all clear now. On Saturday evening he passed 
round the corner of Eighteenth Street, and turned down 
Montgomery Avenue to the church. The Pastor, sitting 
by the window, observed him and remarked, " There 
goes Horace to gaze upon the church, the love 
of his heart." It was his last look on the towers and 
walls he loved so well. He was not present at the 
Friday night prayer-meeting, an event so unusual that 
inquiries were made about it. Dr. Graydon, his phys- 
ician, said, " He has pneumonia, and is very sick." 
The Pastor went to see him. He looked pale and 
pensive, as if he had vague intimations of something 
just ahead which he could not then comprehend. The 
Pastor prayed for him and his restoration to duty, for 
the cold thought had not settled down upon conscious- 
ness that his work was done; and bidding him to be 
strong and good-night, promised to see him on Saturday, 
but before he could fulfill his promise he was sent for, 
and when he reached him consciousness was sinking be- 
low the coast line, and only lingering rays lay back upon 
the receeding world. That night, after hours of conflict 



MITES A GAINST MILL IONS. 167 

with pain, he went to sleep, the most beautiful, sanctified, 
manly form and face our tear-dimmed eyes ever rested 
upon. There was no terror there; beauty had con- 
sumed it. No sorrow has ever so chastened this young 
church. On the day of his burial the house was filled ; 
the hearts alike of old and young were breaking. Fathers 
and mothers wept as for a noble son, and the young 
mourned as over a brother beautiful and true. His form 
was the first to be carried into the church for which he 
toiled, dressed by the loving hands of the sorrowing 
women who wrought with him in the garden of flowers; 
they would let no hands but theirs touch his precious 
remains. At the close of the services, as the little ones 
passed by his coffin, each dropped a white flower on his 
breast, and from many eyes more precious tributes ac- 
companied them. Our sky was eclipsed, but light has 
come. That loving father took the place of his beloved 
son at the next communion, with that sister by his side, 
and a younger one, too, and now they are all in the 
fold, and some of his companions came as well. " What 
I do thou k no west not now, but thou shalt know here- 
after." 

Thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift, and thanks 
to his children, made rich through His poverty, for the 
return they have made to the dying request of one of 
His little ones. 



DEED OE TRUST. 

In trust for, nevertheless, and subject to the following 
conditions, limitations, and restrictions : That is to 
say, in trust for the use of the congregation that shall 
worship in the church now erected or hereafter to be 
erected on said lot of ground above described and 
granted, so long as said congregation shall adhere to the 
doctrines and principles of the Presbyterian Church of 
the United States of America, as now held by said 
Church, and as the same shall be announced from time 
to time by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church of the United States of America, with which 
the Central Presbytery of Philadelphia is now connected. 
And whenever the congregation ■ worshiping in said 
Church shall cease to adhere to the doctrines and princi- 
ples of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of 
America as aforesaid then in trust to grant and convey 
the said lot or piece of ground, with the church build- 
ings and improvements thereon erected, to the Board of 
the Church Erection Fund of the said General Assem- 
bly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of 
America, free, clear, and discharged of and from all 
trusts whatsoever. Provided, however, and it is hereby 
expressly stipulated, that the said Samuel A. Mutch- 
more, trustee as aforesaid, his successor and successors 
in the trust, shall have no right, power, or authority to 

163 



DEED OE TRUST. 



169 



mortgage the said lot or piece of ground with the said 
church buildings thereon erected, nor in any way 
encumber the same, nor shall the same be liable for any 
debt contracted by the congregation worshiping in said 
Church, or by any committee, officer, or trustee thereof, 
nor for any debt contracted by the said Samuel A. 
Mutchmore, trustee as aforesaid, his successor or suc- 
cessors in the trust. 



APPEN DIX 



The following are the names of those who by money, 
materials, or services, helped this work in its progress to 
completion. Owing to the lapse of so many years since its 
commencement, and among such a large number inter- 
ested, it is probable that the names of many friends — who 
ought to have honorable mention — have been unintention- 
ally overlooked and omitted. From all such their most 
generous indulgence is asked. 



Adamson, William. 
Allen, Mrs. Ann. 
Armor, Thos. A. 
Allen, Miss Eliza. 
Allen, Miss Anna. 
Aitken. 

Allen, William J. 
Anonymous (per Mrs.Yerkes) 
Allen, Miss Ida. 
Allen, Mrs. F. B. 
Allen, Miss Sarah. 
Alexander Presb'n S. Sch )ol. 
Agnew, Rev. J. R. 
Arrott, William. 
Agnew, Samuel. 
Alcorn, Wm. W. 
Allen, Miss Amanda. 
Adamson, C. B. 
Allen, Frank Olcott. 
Albro, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. 
Albro, Miss Carrie C. 
Allen, Miss Sue. 



Atkinson & Myhlertz. 
Alexander, Charles. 
Allen, Miss Edith K. 
Armstrong, Mr. and Mrs. M- 

Baker, Mr. & Mrs. Franklin. 
Barrett. 

Brooks, Miss Anna R. 
Brooks, Mrs. M. A. 
Brooks, John C. 
Baker, Edward, Jr. 
Baton, A. J. 

Bucher, Mr. and Mrs. J. G. 
Bucher, Minnie and Bessie. 
Brooks, Frank. 
Benson, Gustavus S. 
Buchanan, Mary. 
Buchanan, Annie. 
Buchanan, Johnny. 
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. 

and famfly. 
Brown, Mrs. John A. 



172 



APPENDIX. 



Benner, Mrs. Rosemount. 
Bingham, Gen'l H. H. 
Beattie, Mrs. Robt. H. 
Beaver, Thomas S. 
Bertolet, Abner. 
Baral, Jno., Sr. 
Brossman, Willie. 
Bond, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. 
Bond, Joshua A. 
Bachman, Mr. & Mrs. C. E. 
Bachman, Miss Mattie. 
Buntting, Harry. 
Brown, Miss E. 
Benton, K. 
Baugh, Mr. 
Berean Bible Class. 
Bedford, A. 
Bromley, J. & Sons. 
Bromley Bros. 
Burnett, Sam'l. 
Bogget & White. 
Boggs, John. 
Buckley & Co. 
Baker, C. M. 
Blanchard, Chas. 
Borden, J. & Bio. 
Buck, D. & Bro. 
Burling. 
Black, Wm. K. 
Brown, Isaiah H., Esq. 
Bencker, Jno. M. 
Baine, Mr. and Mrs. 
Boyd, Mrs. M. S. 
Boyd, Mrs. Jas. 
Beecher, Mrs. M. W. 
Bulkley, Mr. & Mrs. Ed. R. 
Biglow, Mr. 



Bullock, Miss Ella. 
Bowman, Wm. C. and Jennie. 
Butler, Harvey. 
Blayney, Mrs. Emma. 
Boice, Miss Anna G. 
Bolton, Chas. and Lydia. 
Brown, Wm. J. 
Brqwn, Mrs. Annie J. 
Brown, Thos. R. 
Brown, Sarah E. 
Brown, Emily. 
Brown, Mrs. Emily C. 
Brown, Jessie. 
Brown, Miss Euphemia S. 
Byram, Mr. and Mrs. E. M. 
Byram, C. A. 
Baker, Ed. R. 
Baker, Edw., Jr. 
Benner, Miss Lottie S. 
Benner, Miss Blanche S. 
Blair, Mrs. Marg't. 
Baugh, H. K 
Bennett, Mrs. Isab. B. 
Brvson, Mr. and Mrs. H. H. 
Burbank, Mrs. F. R. 

Cooper, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. 
Cooper, Mr. & Mrs. Henry B. 
Claghorn, J. 
Glower, Miss. 
Colton. 

Cattell, Rev. W. C, D.D. 
Claghorn, C. Eugene. 
Childs, George W. 
Clarke, R. Case. 
Cuyler, Rev. Theo., D.D., and 
church, Brooklyn. 



APPENDIX 



173 



Cogswell, Wm. F. 

Clapp, Rev. R. C, and S. 

School. 
Clarke, Rev. Jas., D.D. 
Cuyler, Mrs. Dr. 
Camp, W. E. 
Carruth, Jno. G. 
Crawford, Mr. & Mrs. J. P. 
Crawford, Chas. L. 
Crawford, Robert. 
Crawford, Donald. 
Crawford, Arthur. 
Converse, Jno. H. 
Centennial Chapel S. School, 

Brooklyn. 
Cook, Jesse M. 
Courtney, Mrs. M. 
Crock, Emma. 
Clower, Miss Annie. 
Cooper, Jones & Cad bury. 
Cornish, T. E. 
Coleman, Mrs. G. Dawson. 
Craig, D. G. 
Crowe, Alex. & Son. 
Currie, Daniel. 
Carson, Robert. 
Cranmer, Mrs. Mary D. 
Cummings, John S. 
Cummings, J. E. 
Charlton. 
Cartright, Jno. 
Cox, Mr. and Mrs. John. 
Casey, Mary A. 
Casey, Kate. 
Casey, Harry. 
Carver, Mrs. Sallie E. 
Coryeli, Jos. R. 



Cox, Mrs. Sallie L. 
Carter, Miss Mary L. 
Chew, Mrs. Mary A. 
Crawford, Mrs. Minnie. 
Courter, Jas. L. 
Clothier, Florenc e. 

Davis, Mattie H. 
Dobbins, R. L. 
Disston, Hamilton. 
Disston, Henry. , 
Donaldson, Mr. & Mrs. W. T. 
Dickson, Cyrus, D.D. 
" Dale," Lancaster, Pa. 
Dickson, Mr. & Mrs. Thos.H. 
DeWitt, Rev. John and wife. 
Dickey, Rev. C. A., D.D. 
DeWitt' s, Miss Julia S. School 

(Annie Carden's Class). 
Dreer, Ferdinand I. 
Dana, Rev. S. W., D.D. 
Danforth. 
Dolan, Thomas. 
Dornan Bros. & Co. 
Davis, Kath & Kelly. 
Davis & Harvey. 
Doak, Jarres. 
Devitt, Thomas. 
Dunlap, Wm. 
Detwiler, J. B. 
Davault & Hoiden. 
Dairy, H. F. 
Dudley, Bell & Arthur. 
Deuel, Henry. 
Diehl, Mr. & Mrs. J. B. 
Davis, Miss Emma. 
Drummoncl, George. 



174 



APPENDIX. 



Drummond, Winslow. 
Drummond, Mrs. S. E. 
Danfield, John H. 
Danfield, Mary S. 
Dorsey, Miss Lola. 
Duncan, Miss Minnie B. 
Dooley, Mrs. Amanda. 
Dunning, Miss Elizabeth D. 

Esbenshade, J. E. 
Esbenshade, Mrs. L. A. 
Esbenshade, Mary A.* 
Esbenshade, Lillie M. 
Edwards, Rich'd. 
Edwards, Rev. Robt. A. 
Elliot, A. G. 

Edgerton S. School, Staten 

Island. 
Eaton, O. D., Treas. 
Elliott, Miss Rebecca. 
Ellis, Miss Anabel. 
Ely, Mrs. Rev. Dr. 
Earnest, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. 
Earnest, Alice. 
Earnest, Maggie. 
Earnest, Stanley. 
Ebert, Morris & Co. 
Epp, Peter. 
Ely, Miss II. M. 
Ervin, James and Hessie J. 

Fithian, Mrs. Jos. 

Fowler, Angie. 

Friend (per T. S. Gardiner). 

Fahnestock, H. C. 

Field, Samuel. 

Ferguson, A. C. 



Freed ley, Jno. K. 
Filbert, Dr. S. 

Fretz, Mr. & Mrs. Gideon H. 

Fretz, Sallie. 

Funk, John. 

French, Richards & Co. 

Friends at Kingsboro, N. Y. 

Friends at Gloversville, N. Y. 

Friends at Johnstown, N. Y. 

Friends at Buffalo, N. Y. 

Friends at Harrisburg, Pa. 

Fox, Henry C. 

Futer, Mrs. Emma Brooks. 

Fry, Edwin. 

Fry, Sarah. 

Fry, Laura. 

Fry, Lizzie. 

Foster, Mrs. Alice. 

Fox, Miss Katie A. 

Forrest, Harry C. 

Forrest, Eleanor S. 

Graham, Miss Mary. 
Graham, Miss Maud. 
Graham, Miss Mattie. 
Graham, Geo. S., Esq. 
Grier, Rev. M. B., D.D. 
Griesemer, Mr. & Mrs. C. F. 
Griesemer, Minnie. 
Griesemer, Chester. 
Graydon, Andrew, M. D. 
Graydon, Mrs. Andrew. 
Graydon, Dr. & Mrs. William. 
Gray, Miss Ella E. 
Garsed, Mrs. & Son. 
Graham, Henry. 
Grant children. 



APPENDIX. 



175 



Graham, Eobt. 
Grice, Adam. 
Gilmore, George. 
Gillingham, Jos. E. 
Gilead Bible Class. 
Green, Miss Mary C. 
Gay, James. 
Garrett, Miss Emily A. 
Gilmore, James. 
Gano, Miss Mary J. 
Graham, James. 
Green, Geo. W. 
Green, Rachel. 
Green, Morris. 
Galbraith, Robt. 
Gaskill, Mrs. Margaret. 
Gaskill, Maggie. 
Griffith, Wm. C. 
Griffith, Guy M. 
Griffith, Miss. 
Gorgas, John, Jr. 
Grantz, Miss. 
Gilmore, Mary J. 
Gilmore, Sarah A. 
Gilmore, Rebecca. 
Gilmore, William. 
Grace, Miss Mary A. 

Hamilton, Rev. S. M. 3 D.D. 
Hughes, Jno. O. 
Hogg, James. 
Hogg, William. 
Hogg, J. Renwick. 
Hampson, W. H. 
Hood, Mrs. Sam'l. 
Hingle, John. 
Hubbard, Mrs. 



Hay, Mr. and daughter. 

Henderson, John and Lizzie. 

Hinkel, Miss F. K. (Boston). 

Hazlett, Mrs. Mary A. 

Hoppel, Mrs. 

Hollowbush, Jacob. 
! Humphreys, Miss Maggie. 

Heywood, E. S. 

Hawes, Rev. Ed. 

Henry, Rev. J. Addison, D.D. 

Hoffman, Mr. & Mrs. C. J. 

Henry, J. Charlton. 

Hill, George W. 

Hedley, Sarah V. 

Hedley, Mary E. 

Harlan, Marg't K. 

Hoobaugh, Mr. 

Hamlin, G. E. 

Hurst, Jimmie R. 

Hibbs, Eli. 

Hambleton, Frank. 

Hambleton, Miss. 

Harrington, Mr. & Mrs. D. C. 

Hagenbotham, Mr. W. E. 

Hagenbotham, Mrs. W. E. 

Heany, Miss Kate. 

Hall/Frank E. 

Howell, John and Addie C. 

Hunter, William. 
| Holmes, Henry. 

Hamilton, John. 
! Henston, Robt. 

Horner & Bros. 

Harvey, Joseph. 

Hitner, David. 

Heritage. 

; Harbert, Russell & Co. 



176 



APPENDIX. 



Hoopes & Townsend. 
Harper & Tiernan. 
Hornberger, Rev. L. P. 
Herring-, Annie and Sallie R. 
Hillman, Lizzie. 
Hanley, Jacob D. 
Hare, Anna C. 
Hdl, Elizabeth. 
Hill, Edward B. 
Hackett, Elizabeth. 
Hackett, Louise. 
Hackett, Mary. 
Hall, Angeline. 
Hunsicker, Hannah. 
Hansell, David. 
Hansell, Mary J. 
Hansell, Sarah E. 
Hamilton, John. 
Hughes, Florence E. 
Hicks, Isaiafr. 

Irwin, James. 
Irwin, Jesse. 
In man, W. I. 
Ivins, Deitz & Magee. 
Inger, Jane. 
Irwin, Lillie. 

Judson, D. B. 
Jessup & Moore. 
Johnson, Henry and wife. 
Judge Bros. 

Joh nstown, N.Y., col'd church 
and S. S. (per J. D. Parrish). 
Johnston, Angelina. 
Jarden, Saml. H. 
Junkin, George. 



Jaffray, Edw'd S. 
Jamison, Wm. S. 
Jackson, David. 
Jones & Shaw. 
Jackson, William. 
Jackson, Howard. 
Janeway, Rev. T. L., D.D. 

Kenney, Wm. R. 
Kenney, Sivilla. 
Kenney, Kate E. 
Kershow, Elizabeth L. 
Kingsboro, N. Y., Sab. School 

and church. 
Kemble, Wm. H. 
Kenney, Hattie E. 
Kimberly, Geo. H. 
Kershow, Harry. 
Koons, W. C. 
Kemble, Mrs. C. 
Kirkbride, I. 
Keefer, Dr. 
Kurlbaum, C. A. 
Kemble, Samuel and wife. 
Kemble, Helen. 
Kemble, Thos.H.& Florence. 
Knowles, Miss. 
Knorr, Mary E. 
Knorr, Lillie. 
King, Catharine. 
Kirkpatnck, Ella M. 
Knox, Louisa M. 

Logan, Rev. Dr. S. C. 
Lorenz, Ethel. 
Little, G. E. 

Liggins, Charles and wife. 



APPEXDIX. 



177 



Liggins, Lizzie and Annie. 
Lincoln, H. B. 
Linn, J. A. 
Lam birth, Henry W. 
Little Reapers Association. 
Lorberg, Clara. 
Lister, Cbas. C. 
Lister, Margaret E. 
Lauciriea. Jose Q. 
Leedoru, Thos. & Co. 
Langenstein, J. & E. 
Lafayette Presby'n Church 

Brooklyn. 
Loudenslager, Sophia. 
Lins, Frank and Amelia. 
Lee, Frances A. 
Landenberger, Christopher. 
Landenberger, Catharine. 
Leach, Edna F. 
Liberton, Rachel D. 
Lnkens, Mrs. T. R. 
LaSerre, "Walter L. 
Light cap, Mary M. 

Mutch more, S A. 
McElroy, VVm. J. 
Mclntire, Archibald. 
McGill, John. 
McGill, Minnie. 
Mc Williams, Harry. 
McClain, Thos. W. 
McCIain, Sarah D. 
McMullin, L. S. 
McMullin, Walter B. 
McMullin, Lydia. 
McHenry. 
Marshal], John. 



McCutcheon, Wm. H. 
McCutcheon, Addie. 
McCutcheon, Thos. Potter. 
McCormick, E. P. and wife. 
Martin, Dr. Jos. and wife. 
McDonald, Rhoda. 
Metzgar, Percy B. ev: Mary H. 
McKee, Jos. D. 
McCully, Vincent P. 
McManes, James. 
McGill, James. 
McCormick, James. 
McCormick, Aug. 
McCook. Rev. EL C, D.D. 
McMillan, Alex. M. 
McMillan, Isab. F. 
McMillan, Herbt. L. 
Mutchmore, Alex. 
Masson, Elizab. and Robert. 
McKay, Captain. 
Moffat, J. W. 
March, Rev. Dr. Daniel. 
Moore, H. C. 
McAulev, G. M. 
McCarrell, S. J. 
Muench, Danl. A. 
Miller, Mr,. 
McClure, Arthur. 
McGregor, Jas. 
Mason, John. 
Morris, D. C. 
Mutchmore, Thomas. A. 
MeCord, Jno. D. 
Moore, Little Jennie E. 
Monteliup, Wm. E. 
Mclnrire, Kate. 
MacKellar. Smiths & Jordan. 



178 



APPENDIX. 



Mann, Mrs. Win. (per Hor- 
ace Patton). 
Morrow, Mattie B. 
Morrow, Mary E. 
Mitchell, Rev. Stuart & wife. 
McDowell, Frank W. 
McCallum, Crease & Sloan. 
McDowell, Sampson. 
McGlue, Edw. H. 
Miller, W. F. 
Mogee, Geo. W. 
Miller, G. M. and H. A. 
Murtha, David. 
Moore, W. H. 
McKenna, Owen. 
Malone, Watson. 
Mcllvaine, Mrs. 
McLure, Sophia. 
McLure, Agnes. 
McLure, Essie J. 
McLure, Thos. C. 
McLure, Julius A. 
McLure, Albert G. 
McLure, Eugenia A. H. 
McLure, Norman L. 
Middleton, Nancy R. 
McGarry, Mary A. 
McGarry, Maria. 
McGarry, Edward. 
McGarry, Win. H. 
McGarry, John. 
McGarry, Clara H. 
McGarry, Samuel. 
McGarry, Mary. 
McAlpin, Harriet. 
McAlpin, Aline. 
.McAlpin, Mary. 



Milliken, Agnes. 
Moore, Wm. H. 
Moore, Sarah M. 
Moore, Lizzie. 
Moore, Chas. H. 
McAuley, Rev. Dr. A. G. 
Monroe, Mrs. F. E. 
Mitchell, James W. 
Mann, Kate S. 
MacNeil, Jane, Agnes, Alice* 
MacNeil, Isabel, Jennie. 
MacNeil, John T. 
Marsh, Mary H. 
Mercereau, Margana. 
Mercereau, Martha. 
More, Marian E. 
Murphy, Lizzie M. 
Miller, Kate Garva. 
McNaulty, Jennie. 
Miller, John H. 
McDonald, Chas, 
McDonald, Isabella. 
McDonald, John. 
Myers, Mrs. H. II. 
McNally, Thomas. 
Mcintosh, Rev. J. S., D.D. 
Malone, Rev. J. S. 
McMonagle, Rev. Dr. J. H. 

*Newberry, Rev. E. D. 
Nutter, Henry P. & Mary A. 
Noble, Albert B. 
Noble, Annie. 
Neely, Jos i ah. 
Napheys, George C. 
Naudain, Elias. 
North, Curtis L. 



APPENDIX. 



179 



Nolen, Marg't. and Lizzie C. 
Niles, Rev. Dr. H. E., and 

S. School, York. 
Nelson, Hugh. 

Neely, Chas. W. and Cora R. 

Osborne, C. W.,N. Y. church, 

collection. 
Oppenheimer, Geo. A. 
Otto, Hermine C. 
Orr, Mary and Sallie. 
Oswald, Anna L. 
Offerman, Mrs. L. W. 
Orr, Rev. Thos. X., D.D. 

Poor, Rev. D. W., D.D. 
Pyle, Jos. H. and Anna M. 
Patton, Jos. R. and wife. 
Patton, Horace M. 
Patton, Maggie B. 
Patton, Josie and Willie. 
Poole, Chas. A. L. 
Pollock, Charlotte. 
Philson, Thomas and Mary. 
Phyfa, Fl< rence. 
Peall, Lizzie K. 
Parker, Chas. W. and Eliza. 
Porter, Chas. L. 
Porter, Mary B. 
Porter, Florence. 
Palmer, Auna M. & Lottie C. 
Phelps, Harvev. 
Prince, Sam'l F. 
Porter, Hon. Win. A. 
Peters, John and wife. 
Peddle, Geo. R. and Mary A. 
Peddle, Lottie and Annie. 



Powell, Geo. May and wife. 
Pollock, James. 
Patton, Rev. Geo. and wife. 
Patton, Maggie and Mary. 
Patton, William. 
Patterson, William. 
Potter, William. 
Parmalee, Mrs. 
Pursell, Isaac. 
Potter, J. Barren. 
Porter, Charles. 
Purves, W. 
Patton, Samuel. 
Potts, Channing. 
Plowman, Geo. W. 
Phillips, Dominick. 
Patton, Rev. F. L., D.D. 
Pickering, Mrs. 

Rommel. 

Ringgold, Wm. S. 
Ringgold, Mrs. H. L. 
Ringgold, William L. 
Robb, Mrs. 
Ripple, E. 
Richards, D. B. 
Russell, M A. 
Rouse, J. G. 
Rouse, Ellen L. 
Rockwell, Rev. J. A., D.D. 
Ross, Philip S., children. 
Rowley, S. B. 
Ross, Jno. W. 

Robinson, Rev. Chas. S., D.D. 
Rubinkam. 

Roberts, Rev. Jas., & church 
and S. S., Coatesville, Pa. 



180 



APPENDIX. 



Ringgold Bible Class. 
Reese, Theo. 
Rid path, Sam'l. 
Ross & Getty. 
Royer Bros. 
Roberts, John, Esq. 
Rausch, Rebecca and Ida. 
Ray, Charles. 
Richards, Miss M. J. 
Rinewalt, Jacob. 
Rinewalt, Ruth. 
Rinewalt, Nellie. 
Rinewalt, Joseph. 
Rehn, Edward H. and wife. 
Rehn, Rosalia A. 
Roberts, Win. R. 
Riehl, Aug. 

Richards, D. B. and F. T. 
Reardon, Alice. 
Richer, David and Mary J. 
Royal 1, Theo. A. 
Royall, Myra B. 
Royall, Maggie B. 
Royall, Lida E. 
Royall, John G. 
Royall, Anna B. 
Royall, Theo. A., Jr. 
Roop, Edward and Annie. 
Rieck, Chas. L. 
Roumford, Mary M. 
Roumford, Martha A. 
Roumford, Julia L. 
Roumford, Harry. 
Rowan, Mary. 
Roberts, Elizabeth. 
Rankin, Geo. H. 
Robbins, Rev. F. L., D.D. 



Smith, William N. 
Schaffer, Kate. 
Scott, Sam'l G. 
Shaw, Jas. T. and wife. 
Shaw, J. W. 
Shaw, Walter S. 
Shaw, Emma. 
Shaw, Mary. 

Schalfer, Kate, Lina, Clara. 
Stevenson, John B. 
Struthers & Sons. 
Still, William. 
Stinson, Thomas. 
Stewart, John L. 
Swartz, Geo. W. 
Sweat man, V. C. 
Sage, Mr. 
Simons, Capt. 

Smith's, Mrs. Horace (sister). 
Simpson, Joel. 
Schall,Mary H. 
Schall, May. 

Scott, Walter and Elizabeth. 
Scott, Jno. M. 
Scott, Annie. 
Supplee, Sarah A. 
Supplee, Anna M. 
Supplee, Ella F. 
Simonton, Anna M. 
Stinson, James and wife. 
Slaymaker, Henry. 
Savage Sarah C. 
Sterigere, Anna M. 
Stewart, Rev. Wm. R. & wife. 
Shoch, Harry R. 
Singerly, Wm. M. 
! Schweikert, Matilda. 



APPENDIX, 



181 



Stratton, Nellie. 
Stinson, Thos. and Sam'l. 
Sharp, Matthew and wife. 
Stewart, Helen and Maggie. 
State St. S. School (D. J. 

Pratt, Bupt.) 
Stone, Dr. 

Stewart, Reuel, M. D.. and 

wife. 
Sparhawk, John. 
Smith, Penella P. 
Stetson, John B. 
Scott, Samuel G. 
Stewarts' Sons, Wm. 
Schatt, William. 
Seymour, Agnes and Xelson. 
Smallwood, Carrie B. 
Seibert, Amelia. 
Stremmer, Lewis. 
Stewart. Benedict. 
Skidmore, Prof. S. T. 
Stewart, Robert. 
Story, Samuel. 
Supplee, i v Iron column . 
Stevenson, Morris. 
Stephenson, H. Son. 
Schaffer, Cbas. 
Shillingford, H. H. 
Spear, William. 
Sharpless & Watt 
Smith, Jas. S. 
Stuart, Robt, L., N. Y. 
Stuart, Alexander, X. Y. 
Smith, Sarah J. and Sadie. 
Smith, Elizabeth. 
Smith, Jennie. 
Smith, Sallie H. 



Smith, Mary E. 

Smith, Ernest W. 

Spinnehoern, Henry H. 

Schelly, Joel P. & Louisa M. 

Stevens, Jennie K. 

Saville, Mary S. and Sophia. 

Schell, Cora'H. 

Smith, George H. 

Sutton, Rev. J. Eord, D.D. 

Thissell, H. N. and wife. 
Thissell, Chas. S. and wife. 
Taylor, Pitch and wife. 
Towne, Chas. H. and wife. 
Tweed, Columbus. 
Tenbrook, Philip H. 
Thompson. E. O. 
Thain, David. 
Taber, Augusta. 
Thomas, Rev. C. F. 
Thomas, Jno. and wife. 
Taylor, Thomas. 
Tot ten, Wm. J. 
Totten, Margt. 
j Temple, Mary J. 
Temple, Ja?. W. and Emma. 
Traville, Ruth and Rose. 
Troutman, Anna W. & Eliza. 
Trout man, Lucian. 
Troutman, Elizabeth. 
Taylor, Hannah. 
Tuller, Jeanie S. 
Thome, Annie W. 

Estick, Wm A. 

Vansant, A. L. 



182 



APPENDIX, 



Vandegrift, Margt. C. 
Veghti, Dr. 
Van Ornan, Mary L. 
Van Dever, Mary J. 

Warthman, Adam, Sarah W. 
Warthman, Florence. 
Warthman, Edgar. 
Warthman, Mary E. 
Wallace, Wm. W. 
West, Mrs. and daughter. 
Wood, William and family. 
Walton, Geo. W. 
White, Elizabeth. 
Weed, Jerred S. 
Woolley, E. C. and mother. 
Wilson; Rev. Henrv R., D.D. 
Wright, C. W. 
Walkley, Selden S. 
AVhilldin, Alex. 
Watt, David and wife. , 
Watson, J. C. 
Warner, Percy. 
Whiteford, Maggie W. 
Westminster S. School. 
Wilson, Rev. P. Q. , 
Whiteley, Jas. S. 
Wanamaker, John. 
AViswell, Rev. George, D.D. 
Walker, E. J. and wife. 
Wood, Constance. 
Waller, Rev. D. J. 
White, Rev. W. P. 
Wentzel. 
Winner, Sep. 
Wiatt, J. M. 
Williams, A. and J. 



Wakefield, H. W. 
Winter, G. W. 
Willis, F. W. and wife. 
Willis, Mary and Jessie. 
Willis, Wm. E. and John. 
Williams, Kate S. & Sallie B. 
Williams, Euph. A. 
Wallace, Annie J. & James. 
Winters, Lewis R. 
Wallace, Mary E. 
White, Margary. 
Whan, Lillie. 
Wilder, Mrs. H. A. 
Wilder, Helen. 
Wilder, Eliza. 
Weeks, Caroliue B. 
Winner, J. G. 
Winner, Florence H. 
Winner, Hannah J. 
Witcomb, Jn \ J. 
Wade, Angus S. 

Yost, E. C. 

Yost, Charles. 

Yerkes, Silas and wife. 

Yerkes, Annie R. & Rhetta. 

Young, William. 

Young, Lillie. 

Young, Linda. 

Young, Ella. 

Young, Clara. 

Young, Robert. 

Young German Orchestra. 

Young, Mr., (wharfage), 

Zehnder, Katie and Rosa. 



